DUTCHESS
COUNTY
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
V. Kleek
Van BomrneToi [
Seabury
From the collection of the
m
Prelinger h
ibrary
San Francisco, California
IT)! P U G H K E E P S I E
IN.Y.F
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
DUTCHESS
COUNTY
SPONSORED BY
THE WOMEN'S CITY AND
COUNTY CLUB
OF DUTCHESS COUNTY
NEW YORK
PUBLISHED BY THE WILLIAM PENN
ASSOCIATION OF PHILADELPHIA
MCMXXXVII
Copyright; I 9 3 7
by the WlLLIAM PfiNN ASSOCIATION
OF PHILADELPHIA
10
Com pi I ed by
THE WORKERS of the
DUTCHESS COUNTY UNIT
FEDERAL WRITER s' PROJECT
of the WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
in the STATE OF NEW YORK
PREFACE
ERRATA
Page 10, 4th line from bottom for (See Tour No. 2, p. 117) read
(See Tour No. 2A, p. 122).
Page 15, 12t'h line from top for pp. 25-26 read p. 32.
Page 16, end of first paragraph for p. 64 read p. 66.
Page 23, last six lines read: An exception is Vassar College, the
buildings of which have been designed by capable archi
tects. As in the case of most of our American colleges,
Vassar buildings present a history of architectural taste
during the past three-quarters of a century, though
some of them taken individually, are decidedly better
than average. The heterogeneous styles and materials are
saved from discord by the magnificent trees and lovely
gardens that adorn the college grounds.
Page 31, 12th line from bottom for activities read battles.
Page 36, line 8 for authorizen read authorized.
Page 43, Points of Interest 22 and 23 reverse order. Oakley House
should precede Arnold Homestead. In line 6 under Oakley
House, for north read west.
Page 44, last line of Point of Interest 27 for Dannammer read
Danskammer.
Page 61, under Alumnae House for cryptic read triptych.
Page 63, line 21 for municipality read municipally.
Page 98, Line 39 for halmet read hamlet.
Page 98, line 44 for DANHEIM read DAHEIM.
Page 99, line 1 ditto.
Page 105, line 18 for wa sson read was soon.
Page 141, llth line from bottom, for rae read are.
Page 142, line 30 for econd read Second.
Page 142, line 31 for tate read State.
Page 142, line 32 for Aairs read Affairs.
Page 147, line 29 for Vilet read Violet.
Page 152, line 18 delete Square.
In the Index: for Cory, read Crary.
for Lake Aerica read Lake Amenia.
ised upon such a
that of selection,
material has re-
iclude significant
rations the many
are now known
been exercised to
c original sources,
ita have been re-
id for such errors
elicited.
: cordial coopera-
;ment is made to
f offices, and the
rches, and other
Dr the use of his
icnts, newspapers,
t; Dr. Emmeline
it state entomolo-
lent MacCracken
members of the
Dutchess County
is have rendered
ng over Dutchess
purpose.
THE EDITORS.
Ill
by the \
TH
DUTC
FEDERAL WRITERS PROJECT
of the WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
in the STATE OF NEW YORK
PREFACE
The compilation of the DUTCH ESS COUNTY GUIDE is based upon such a
great wealth of material that the most difficult task has been that of selection.
To meet the requirements of a book of useful size much material has re
luctantly been omitted. An attempt has been made to include significant
historical data and to record for present and future generations the many
facts in connection with places, houses, and people which are now known
only to older members of the community. Great care has been exercised to
secure accuracy, and as a result of this effort with the use of original sources,
and much personal- consultation, some generally accepted data have been re
jected as unreliable. For failures in judgment in selection, and for such errors
of fact as may have crept in, the indulgence of the reader is solicited.
The material could not have been assembled without the cordial coopera
tion of many citizens of the county. Grateful acknowledgment is made to
the librarians, to the clerks of the county, town, and city offices, and the
Highway Department ; to the officials of schools, churches, and other
organizations. Acknowledgement is due James Reynolds for the use of his
grandfather's diary; to Isaac Platt for access to old documents, newspapers,
and maps; to Dr. H. D. House, New York State botanist; Dr. Emmeline
Moore, chief aquatic biologist; K. F. Chamberlain, assistant state entomolo
gist ; W. J. Schoonmaker, assistant state zoologist ; to President MacCracken
and Miss Cornelia M. Raymond, of Vassar College, and members of the
faculties of Vassar and Bard Colleges. Members of the Dutchess County
Historical Society, many old families, and local historians have rendered
valuable assistance.
If the guide adds pleasure and profit to travelers driving over Dutchess
County roads, the book will have accomplished its major purpose.
THE EDITORS.
Ill
CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE Ill
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS VII
LIST OF MAPS VII
DUTCHESS COUNTY: PAST AND PRESENT 1
POUGHKEEPSIE 24
VASSAR COLLEGE 54
BEACON 62
FISHKILL VILLAGE 79
TOUR 1
Poughkeepsie Hyde Park Rhinebeck Red Hook Pine Plains
Amenia Millbrook Washington Hollow Pleasant Valley
Poughkeepsie 86
TOUR 1 A
Junction US 9 and Old Post Road Staatsburg 103
TOUR 1 B
Rhinebeck Barrytown Annandale Tivoli 105
TOUR 1 C
Red Hook Dutchess-Columbia County Line 109
TOUR 1 D
Pine Plains Washington Hollow ...... 110
TOUR 2
Poughkeepsie New Hackensack Hopewell Junction Pawling
Dover Plains Amenia 112
TOUR 2 A
Junction State 55 and 22 Quaker Hill 122
TOUR 3
Poughkeepsie Wappingers Falls Beacon Fishkill Brinckerhoff
Hopewell Junction Billings Poughkeepsie 124
TOUR 3 A
Junction US 9 and New Hamburg Road New Hamburg 135
TOUR 3 B
Junction State 9 D and Chelsea Road Chelsea 136
V
Page
TOUR 3 C
Beacon Dutchess-Putnam County Line 137
TOUR 3 D
Fishkill Dutchess-Putnam County Line 139
TOUR 3 E
Brinckerhoff Wiccopee Dutchess-Putnam County Line 142
TOUR 3 F
Junction State 55 and 82 Moores Hills Verbank Clove Valley 144
TOUR 4
Poughkeepsie East Park Pleasant Plains Wurtemburg
Schultzville Clinton Hollow Salt Point Poughkeepsie .... 147
TOUR 4 A
East Park Netherwood 152
BIBLIOGRAPHY 154
INDEX 162
VI
Illustrations
Page
Saw Mill of Henry Livingston I
Dover Furnace 7
Van Kleeck House, built in 1702 *6
Old Brewery at the River Front 19
Dutch House, known as "Old Hundred," New Hackensack 4
Reformed Dutch Church at New Hackensack 4
Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge from the Waterfront 4 1
Interior woodwork of the Lewis DuBois House, Gray's Riding Academy 41
Blodgett Hall Arch, Vassar College 56
Students' Building, Vassar College 57
Along Wappinger Creek 69
Reformed Dutch Church at Fishkill 80
Road to old landing near mouth of Wappinger Creek 81
Milestone near entrance to Crum Elbow 88
Entrance Drive to the Roosevelt Estate 88
Crum Elbow, the Roosevelt Estate 89
A Family Burial Ground north of Rhinebeck 104
The Whitefield Oak at Smithfield 104
Churchyard at St. James' Church, Hyde Park 105
St. James' Church, Hyde Park 105
Doorway to the Oblong Meeting House at Quaker Hill 120
Sycamore Tree, with embedded plaque, used as a whipping post during the
Revolution, John Kane House, Pawling 121
Oblong Meeting House, Quaker Hill 121
Mount Gulian, the Verplanck House, Fishkill-on-the-Hudson 129
Pasture Lands near Dover Furnace 136
De La Vergne Hill near Amenia 136
Old Mill and Falls near Amenia 137
Storm Adriance Brinckerhoff House, Old Hopewell 143
Abraham Fort Homestead, near Poughkeepsie 153
Doorway of the Brett-Teller House, Beacon Tailpiece
Maps
Poughkeepsie, 1798 End papers
Poughkeepsie 24
Poughkeepsie Foot Tour 35
Vassar College Campus 54
Beacon 62
Fishkill Village 78
Dutchess County Tours 86
VII
DUTCHESS COUNTY
^o; M/V/ o/ /frwry Livingston, 1792
Geography and Geology
Dutchess County lies between the Hudson River and the State of Con
necticut ; and is bounded on the north by Columbia County and on the south
by Putnam County. It lies between the parallels of 425' and 4126'30" N.
latitude. The 74th meridian west of Greenwich passes about one mile west
of the western boundary. Its area of approximately 800 square miles is
divided into 20 townships.
Dutchess County is a region of great interest to the geographer and
geologist.* The economic importance of the county is partly due to its varied
surface and types of soil. Except along its extreme southern and eastern edges,
the section is gently rolling. Altitudes range from sea level in the western
section along the Hudson River to 2,300 feet in the northeast. A truly pic
turesque country, it consists of long ridge-like hills and trough-like valleys
trending generally northeast-southwest. In the western part of the county
these hills are low with an average elevation of 650 feet. In the central part,
* No detailed study of Dutchess County rocks has been made till recently. Since
1935. two groups of geologists, working in this field, have reached different conclu
sions which have occasioned a controversy. The generalizations here made are still
true, however, whichever set of detailed conclusions finally prevails.
1
however, they attain a somewhat greater height. In addition to the smaller
valleys between the ridges, there are a number of more conspicuous valleys
such as the Clove and Harlem valleys, the valley east of Stissing Mountain,
and that of Wappinger Creek. These are long and broad and have very flat
bottoms.
This pleasing, rolling country is known technically as the Middle Hudson
Valley. The geologist designates it as a portion of what is called the Great
Valley, the longest valley in eastern United States, extending all the way
from the State of Alabama to the Province of Quebec, a distance of more than
1,000 miles, and includes the well-known Tennessee, Shenandoah, and
Cumberland Valleys to the south.
Bordering Dutchess County on the south and east is a mountainous mass
which rises above the rolling country. In elevation it reaches well over 1,OOC
feet and forms a distinct barrier to southward and eastward travel. On th*
southern edge of the county this mountainous mass includes Storm King.
Mount Beacon, and the Fishkill Mountains. On the east it is represented by
Schaghticoke Mountain and other mountains immediately east of the Con
necticut boundary. This high barrier is known as the Hudson Highlands.
As in the case of the Middle Hudson Valley, the Hudson Highlands are a
portion of a much larger physiographic province, which crosses the Hudson
River below Beacon and extends many miles to the southwest, terminating
at Reading, Pennsylvania.
The marked contrast between the Hudson Highlands and the Middle
Hudson Valley is accounted for in a study of the bed rocks which underlie
the region. The Hudson Highlands are composed of the oldest rocks in
Dutchess County. These consist of granites and altered granitic rocks, which,
in places, have a noticeable banded character (gneiss). They have been
formed by the cooling and crystallizing of molten rock which has risen from
deep in the earth. These granitic rocks have been so greatly metamorphosed
(altered by heat and pressure), that much of their original character has
been obliterated. The greater resistance of these rocks to weathering, causes
them to stand higher than the surrounding country.
In contrast to the Hudson Highlands, the Middle Hudson Valley is under
lain entirely by sedimentary rocks (rocks which were deposited by water).
These rocks are all younger than the granites of the Hudson Highlands,
above which they were deposited. The most extensive of these are shales and
slates which have been named the Hudson River formation. They were com
posed originally of mud which was deposited in horizontal layers on the
bottom of a great arm of the sea once covering this area. Since their deposi
tion, however, the mud layers have been buried and folded under great heat
and pressure which hardened them into shales and slates. The folds in these
rocks trend northeast-southwest, and impart a northeast-southwest trend to
the ridges and intervening valleys.
The broad flat valleys, such as Clove Valley, are underlain by the Wap
pinger limestone formation, which is younger than the granites of the Hudson
Highlands, but in part older and more easily eroded than the Hudson River
formation. This is also a marine deposit, as shown by the marine fossils, or
the remains of ancient sea life, it contains. In the western part of the county,
near Poughkeepsie, the Wappinger formation is a true limestone composed of
small grains of calcium carbonate. It has been used as a building stone, but
does not break well for the quarryman. East of Poughquag the limestone has
been highly metamorphosed and recrystallized into a marble. At South Dover
the marble was formerly quarried extensively for building purposes.
Dutchess County has had an unusually interesting geological history.
After the granites of the Hudson Highlands were injected, the whole region
endured a long period of erosion during which many thousands of feet of rock
were worn away. Then, as the land sank, the sea crept in and the region was
covered with sand and mud. As the sea deepened, the limy shells of sea
animals and chemically precipitated lime accumulated on the bottom to form
the Wappinger limestone. Later, streams brought in mud to be deposited as
the Hudson River shale. These rocks were then buried beneath a great thick
ness of overlying sediments and were intensely folded, crumpled, and meta
morphosed. Since that time the land has risen, the sea has retreated, and the
region has been severely dissected by the erosion of streams.
The relatively recent geological process of most importance in Dutchess
County has been glaciation. Many thousands of years ago, this region was
covered with a vast sheet of ice which moved from north to south. Its thick
ness here was probably 2,000 feet. Such a load of ice exerted a terrific down
ward pressure on the region which it covered. At Storm King Mountain, the
bottom of the rock channel of the Hudson River is more than 800 feet below
sea level, indicating that the Hudson Valley sank after it was formed. At
the end of the Glacial Period, with the change to warmer climate, the front
of the ice sheet melted back toward the north ; and as the ice load was
removed, the land rose. The Hudson River Valley was partly dammed at
its southern end, and a long, narrow, fresh-water lake was formed. Here
the fine clays were deposited which are now used in the manufacture of bricks
at many points along the Hudson River. The poor drainage in Dutchess
County is the result of the haphazard distribution of sand, gravel, and
boulders left behind when the ice retreated.
Flora and Fauna
The characteristic native trees of the lower parts of the county are hickory,
oak, sycamore, basswood, soft maple, elm, birch, dogwood, azalea, mountain
laurel, laburnum, red cedar, pine, hemlock, black walnut, horse chestnut and
tulip. At higher altitudes in the Taconic and Highlands sections there is an
other characteristic assemblage of native trees, which includes some of the first
group together with sugar maple, beech, white cedar, spruce, tamarack, ash,
cucumber, and others. Some of the older trees are introduced species, from
other sections of the country, from Europe, or the Orient, such as some varie
ties of spruce, European larch (see Beacon), Lombardy poplar, old-world
willow, mulberry, locust, and catalpa. These expatriates of Europe and the
Orient are generally found on large estates or on lands that have been
settled for many years. Chestnuts are exceedingly rare, a blight having de
stroyed most of these fine, large-leaved forest trees. The second-growth
chestnuts are said to be immune.
Real forests are scarce in the county outside of the highland regions.
Woodlots, however, are numerous; and hedgerows and road plantings are
common. Especially in hedgerows are the smaller trees and shrubs found.
Unlike many of the New York counties, there is no State forest preserve land
in Dutchess. Taconic State Park, in the northeast, has been reforested to
some extent with plantations of Scotch pine, European larch, Norway spruce,
and white pine, all of which are relatively quick growers with root stock
suitable for soil erosion prevention.
Shrubs of all sorts are found, many having been introduced and planted
on estates and in hedgerows. Some of the larger estates use shrubs as walls
to hide the mansions from the highways. Rhododendron is somewhat out
standing because it will not thrive much farther north, because it will grow
in dark places unsuited to lawns, and because it has pleasing leaves and
blooms.
Too numerous to list are all the species of wild flowers. Common meadow
flowers are daisy, black-eyed Susan, devil's-paintbrush, Queen Anne's lace,
buttercup, wild strawberry, blue violet, thistle, butter-and-eggs, and golden-
rod. Cattail, blue flag, broadleaved arrowhead, jack-in-the-pulpit, pond
lily, and marsh buttercup are characteristic flowering plants of marsh and
pond. In the woods are dogtooth violet (spring), wintergreen, trillium,
bitter sweet, arbutus (do not pick), and a host of other colorful plants. Just
which plants thrive in any one section is determined by soil conditions,
amount of light, and altitude.
Like the plants and trees, animals of the county comprise native and in
troduced species. In a group by themselves are insects and arachnids (spiders).
Lowly worms, slugs, ticks, bats, rats, frogs, toads, mice, shrews, and protozoa
usually pass unnoticed.
The largest animal is the common (Virginia) deer found in the mountain
areas. It occasionally strays to inhabited sections but scuttles away when
discovered. Fiercest of the mammals is the wildcat, which keeps out of sight
in the mountains. Prowling domestic cats destroy many birds, moles, and
mice. The groundhog (woodchuck) is a common burrower in more remote
meadows and hillsides. Raccoons and skunks, although relatively numerous,
are seldom seen, as they commonly run about at night. Skunks, attracted by
automobile lights, are sometimes spattered about State roads. Gray and red
squirrels live in forest, estates, woodlot, and city trees, but rarely are seen
together because they are incompatible. Chipmunks, with black stripes reach
ing down their brown backs to their thin tails, frequent stone walls but
shun human company. The nocturnal flying squirrel is also found. Meadows
and hedgerows are the favorite haunts of burrowing rabbits. Foxes, gray
and red, are sometimes seen and often trapped in the mountains. Intermit
tently, opossums come to the county, only to disappear again in what appears
to be a fixed cycle of about seven to nine years. The little weasels, brown
in summer and whitish in winter, prey on smaller animals. The otter and
mink are not uncommon. The muskrat inhabits streams and lakes.
The outstanding fowl are classified as game birds and song birds; many
of each are migratory, and several are year-round residents. Most sought
game birds are duck, goose, pheasant, partridge (ruffed grouse), and quail;
the duck and goose are migratory, and the pheasant is introduced.
Among the common birds are robin, sparrow (English sparrow, intro
duced), house wren, swallow, grackle, starling (introduced), oriole, swift,
gull, wood thrush, catbird, warblers, yellow throat, redstart, scarlet tanager,
vireos, finches, rose-breasted grosbeak, cowbird, red-winged blackbird, pewee,
flycatchers, kingfisher, woodpeckers, flicker, owls, hawks, killdeer, snipe,
heron, and common tern.
Only two poisonous snakes are found, the rattlesnake and the copperhead.
Both keep to the uninhabited hills, are relatively inactive, and are not
dangerous unless bothered or surprised. Other and more common snakes are
the garter snake, the spreading adder, the water snake, the little green grass
snake, and the black snake.
Dutchess County streams are regularly stocked with game fish, mostly
trout, by the State or by local game clubs. Hunn's and Whaley Ponds, as
well as other lakes, are well supplied with pickerel, yellow perch, sunfish, and
largemouthed bass. Smallmouthed bass and rock bass frequent faster moving
water, such as Wappinger Creek. In the Hudson, shad and herring (oc
casionally sturgeon) run each April to fresh-water spawning pools, and
large catches are made. White perch are netted in the winter. Slack waters
influenced by tides contain suckers. Carp have been introduced into many
lakes and ponds.
Insects of special moment are those which are destructive to shade and
orchard trees. The worst offenders are the tent caterpillar, the codling moth,
and the gypsy moth. Japanese beetles and Dutch elm leaf beetles, common
and very destructive farther south, threaten the county's southern border.
Reaching New York harbor from foreign lands, they are found in a widening
circle, the Japanese beetle eating foliage, the Dutch beetle spreading a
destructive fungus.
Butterflies and moths of varied hues are common inhabitants of meadows
and woods. The county has its full share of flies, mosquitoes, bees, hornets,
and wasps.
Early Exploration and Indians
The history of the early exploration of the middle reaches of the Hudson
River is shrouded in legend and uncertainty. The Florentine pilot, Giovanni
da Verrazano, sailing under the French flag in 1524, and the Portuguese,
Estevan Gomez, exploring for Spain in the next year, were possibly among
the first to enter the mouth of the river. The theory that either of these
pushed up the Hudson any real distance is untenable. Certainly neither
ascended the river as far as what is now known as Dutchess County.
5
The first authenticated voyage up the Hudson was made by Henry Hudson
in 1609. This voyage was recorded in the celebrated log of Robert Juet,
English mate of Henry Hudson's Half Moon.
On September 29, 1609, on the return voyage down the "great river of
the mountains," later named Hudson's, the Half Moon dropped anchor off
the present city of Beacon. The inhabitants of this part of the valley, as the
Europeans had learned on their trip up the river, were of a friendly dis
position. Native canoes brought out pumpkins, maize, and tobacco, which
were readily exchanged for trinkets and "fire water." The next day the
voyage was resumed, and for another three quarters of a century the Indians
roamed the woods of Dutchess undisturbed by the whites.
At the time of its organization in 1683 (November 1), Dutchess County
was well populated by the Wappinger Indians, a branch of the Lenni Lenape
(Algonquin) linguistic family. They called themselves Wapani (wapan,
east), dwellers on the east bank of the river. The name Wappingers, however,
is believed to have been derived from the Dutch Wapendragers, or "weapon-
bearers."
An affidavit of King Ninham, a Wappinger sachem, recorded in Albany
in 1730, states that a tribe of the River Indians, the "Wappinoes," were
"the ancient inhabitants of the eastern shore of Hudson's River from the
city of New York to about the middle of Beekman's Patent." Doubtless this
refers to Beekman's upper or Rhinebeck Patent, which would place their
northern boundary almost on a line with the southern boundary of the town
of Red Hook.
Like other Indian tribes, the Wappingers were divided into clans and
villages. Concerning the locations of the various villages so much conflicting
testimony has been left by the early Dutch historians who were actually on
the scene that it is difficult now to speak with any certainty. But however
the precise divisions may have been, it seems clear that the Indian population
was centered in the extreme southwest of the present county, where the
mouths of the two largest streams in the region provided good fishing and
good harbors for canoes.
The name Megriesken, except Ninham the only recorded name of a
Wappinger sachem, is preserved in an interesting document dated August 8,
1683 an Indian deed conveying land to Francis Rombout and Gulian
Verplanck. Covering land in the southwestern part of the present county,
this is considered the only perfect transfer title made by the Wappinger
Indians. This sale was of more than symbolic significance: it was a cession
not merely of territory, but of those lands which the Indians themselves had
chosen to occupy. Other sales followed, three of them before 1687.
The peaceable and friendly intentions which Henry Hudson discovered in
the Dutchess County Indians appear to have continued throughout the brief
history of their relations with the whites. An impressive instance is the
settlement of Amenia by Richard Sackett in 1711 and Uldrick Winegar in
1724. Until the coming of the Winegars the Sackett family was the only
one between Poughkeepsie and New Mil ford, and for many years after
1724 the two families lived in complete isolation. Yet they appear to have
had no defenses whatever against the Indians, while at the same time in
Litchfield, across the Connecticut border, five houses were surrounded by
palisades, and soldiers were stationed to guard the workers in the fields.
Confronted by an untouched wilderness and a rigorous climate, the few
bold white settlers had to fight tooth and nail to implant their traditional
mode of living. It was perhaps inevitable that they should regard the Indians
merely as one of the many forces to be overcome. The peaceable disposition
of the latter served only to facilitate their exploitation. Their land was bought
for small remuneration or acquired by trickery. When a first foothold was
gained', both Dutch and English, at odds with each other, encouraged dis
cord among the Indians. The whole story, to the passing of the last full-
blood Indian in Dutchess, about 1800, is one of continuous disintegration in
the face of superior force and complex motives. White civilization was in-
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Dover Furnace
tolerant and destructive of the ancient Indian modes of life; white man's
diseases were particularly fatal to him; and he could not long withstand
these influences.
Virtually the last stand made by Dutchess Indians was at the remarkable
Moravian mission of Shekomeko, about 3 miles west of the present village
of that name, said to have been the first Moravian congregation of Protestant
Indian converts in America. The Moravians carried on their ministrations
from 1740 to 1744; in the latter year they were definitely ordered to leave
the country. (See Tour 1.)
The compulsory emigration of the Indians of Shekomeko was but an
instance of the many migrations north, south, and west in which the native
population of Dutchess melted away during the 18th century. Large numbers
wandered into Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and many more into
Ohio.
In 1774 the entire Indian population on both sides of the Hudson was
estimated by Governor Tryon as only 300, and but a small number of these
remained in Dutchess County. Although the proportion of women to men
was always higher, a balance was struck by the intermarriage of many
Indian women with the white settlers. Indian blood flows in many old
families of eastern Dutchess.
Territorial Patents
Between 1685 and 1731, by a series of patents, the British Crown granted
the territory of the present county to private persons. Although not valid
as titles unless confirmed by Crown Patents, preliminary Indian deeds were
required under English law. As noted above, a number of deeds were ob
tained from the Indians. When Crown Patents were required to cover these
deeds, a confusion of claims arose which extended over a number of years
and led to some uncertainty as to the number of patents. However, his
torians are in general agreement that there were 11 authentic patents. The
first was granted to Van Cortland and Kip, Dutch merchants, and a Francis
Rombout, of Flemish origin. Known as the Rombout Patent, it was based
on the purchase of Rombout and Verplanck from the Indians in 1683, and
comprised the present towns of Fishkill, East Fishkill, Wappinger, and
parts of La Grange and Poughkeepsie. The second was the Minisinck grant,
patented by Robert Sanders and Myndert Harmense in 1686, including part
of the present town and city of Poughkeepsie. The Schuyler Patent of 1688
comprised two tracts of land: one already partly covered by the Minisinck
grant, and the other, along the river, including the greater part of the town
of Red Hook. (In 1699 Peter Schuyler conveyed to Sanders and Harmense
all his land rights in the present town of Poughkeepsie). Also in 1688, on
the same day, the Artsen-Rosa-Elton Patent was granted, including 1,200
acres in the southwestern part of the town of Rhinebeck. This land was
in 1702 named Kipsbergen, after Hendrik and Jacobus Kip, whose purchases
from the Indians in 1686, shortly after the Artsen-Rosa-Elton purchase, were
included in the royal patent.
8
The most desirable land was along the river, the settlers' highway to the
outside world. The first four patents occupied most of the 45-mile river
frontage of the present county. The remainder was taken up in four suc
ceeding patents covering territory the bulk of which lay inland. These were
the Pawling Patent (1696, Staatsburg) ; Great Nine Partners Patent (1697,
about half the territory between Crum Elbow Creek and Fallkill Creek,
the bulk of the domain lying inland); Rhinebeck Patent (1703, Rhinebeck
and part of Red Hook) ; and Fauconier Patent (1705, Hyde Park).
Three wholly inland patents covered the rest of Dutchess: the Beekman
Patent (1703, Union Vale, Beekman, parts of LaGrange, Dover, and
Pawling); Little Nine Partners Patent (1706, Milan, Pine Plains, parts
of Stanford and Clinton); and the Oblong or "Equivalent Tract" (1731,
eastern Dutchess from North East into Westchester).
The 11 Crown Patents covering 806 square miles of the present county
were issued to less than 40 men, about half English and half Dutch. These
freeholders held their rights by annual payment to the Crown of a com
modity, usually wheat, which they received in turn from their tenants, upon
whom the clearance and cultivation of the county depended. Virtually a
feudal system, it was to cause much trouble and unrest in the 18th century,
and to prove one of the main incitements, in these parts, to the Revolution.
Territorial Boundaries
Dutchess County was one of the 12 original divisions of the Colony of
New York, organized by the first Colonial Assembly on November 1, 1683.
It was named in honor of the Dutchess of York, wife of the Duke, later
King James II, to whom New York had been granted by King Charles II.
Duchess in that day was spelled Dutchess, and this has continued as the
official spelling of the county name to this day. The original boundaries were
the Van Cortland property (the Westchester line) on the south, the Hudson
River on the west, and Roeliff Jansen's Kil (the present Livingston's Creek
in Columbia County) on the north. From the river the county was to ex
tend 20 miles east into the woods. Of these boundaries only the river re
mains unchanged. In 1717 Livingston's Manor was taken from north
Dutchess, and in 1812 Putman County was organized from south Dutchess.
The boundary line between New York and Connecticut had long been a
subject of intercolonial dispute. The Connecticut Charter established the
"South Sea" as a western boundary and the royal grant of 1664 to the Duke
of York designated the Connecticut River as its eastern boundary. Crown
commissioners sent to settle the conflict agreed upon a line north-northwest
from a certain point on the Long Island Sound, supposing it would run
parallel to, and 20 miles east of, the Hudson. Actually the line struck the
river below West Point. As a result, Connecticut agreed in 1731 to cede to
New York a territory equivalent in area to the 61,440 acres which comprise
the present townships of Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, and Darien.
The tract ceded by Connecticut to New York extended the whole length of
Dutchess County along the Connecticut border and has been known since as
the Oblong. A slight ambiguity in the surveying remained undecided until
1879, when the present State line was finally established. (See Oblong,
p. 123)
Settlement
Before 1664 the Dutch had made three successful settlements in the
Hudson Valley (New York, Albany, and Kingston), chiefly for the purpose
of exploiting the fur trade, and had systematically attempted to colonize the
remaining territory under the patroon system. The wilderness of Dutchess,
however, had been left untouched. But it was the Dutch, 20 years after their
country had surrendered to Britain the territory renamed New York, that
finally formed the vanguard of Dutchess County settlers.
By the time the Rombout tract became the legal property of the patentees,
settlement in Dutchess had already begun. A Nicholas Emigh was living at
the mouth of Fishkill Creek, and a Peter Lasinck near the mouth of Wap-
pinger Creek. Both family names, after many alterations in spelling, survive
today. Almost simultaneously, settlements took place in Poughkeepsie and
Rhinebeck. In 1687 Governor Dongan reported that none of these deserved
the name of a village, but his notice of them at least indicates their existence.
Although the soil of Dutchess was fertile and the river and streams
abounded in fish, the conditions under which the first settlers lived were
extremely primitive. The earliest habitations, of which there is little record,
appear to have been caves dug into the sides of hills, lined with split logs,
roofed with spars, and covered with layers of sods. Smoke from the cook
fires found egress through a hole in the roof. Though small, these dugouts
were doubtless warmer and snugger than the first crude cabins which suc
ceeded them.
The trend of village settlement in the first quarter of the 18th century
was back from the river, as is evidenced by the old village centers of Fish-
kill, Poughkeepsie, and Rhinebeck. The nature of the land, with its river
bluffs and adjacent plateaus, was partly the cause, but the opening of the
King's Highway from New York to Albany also exerted a marked influence.
Authorized by the Colonial Assembly in 1703, this great artery was to extend
from the northern end of King's Bridge, which spanned the Harlem (the
first Manhattan bridge), to the "ferry at Crawlew over against the city of
Albany." A special dispensation required sparsely settled Dutchess County
to maintain only a path or highway wide enough for horse and man. But in
1713 this path was widened to conform to the rest of the highway.
In 1728, three years before the New York-Connecticut boundary line
adjustment, the first settlers had arrived in the Oblong. (See Oblong, p. 123.)
These were Nathan Birdsall and Benjamin Ferris, Quakers from Connecti
cut, who settled on the long-famous Quaker Hill in the present town of
Pawling. (See Tour No. 2, p. 117.) Later other settlers came from West-
chester, Long Island, and Connecticut, and helped form the largest Quaker
community in the county.
By 1731 settlements were finally being made in every section. The county
10
was ready for the great influx of second, third, and even fourth generation
pioneers from New England, inured to the climate and conditions of the
New World and possessing the experience to establish themselves successfully.
In the lapid growth of Dutchess during the mid-century, the abundant
water power of the many streams, the fertile soil, and the extensive forests
all played a part. Grist and sawmills were erected on many streams in the
more thickly settled parts of the county; and as settlements reached farther
inland, more mills were built until every hamlet with any potential power
at all was self-sufficient in the essential staples of flour and lumber.
County Government
Legislation for a system of county government was passed by the Colonial
Assembly in 1691. This was the supervisor system, which, except for its
temporary suspension in 1701-3, has continued in effect to the present
without material modification. It is said to have been the model of the
system now generally prevalent throughout the West.
In 1701 freeholders in Dutchess County were authorized to vote in Ulster
County across the river as though residing there. Freeholders, or free prop
erty-owners, alone held the right of suffrage. In 1720 their number had risen
to 148, but remained a small minority of the total population. The provisional
attachment to Ulster County continued until 1713; then Dutchess, with a
total of 445 souls, including 29 slaves, was allowed its representatives in the
Colonial Assembly. The first county officials, elected in 1714, appear to
have divided the county into three wards, the first civil divisions (followed
later by precincts and towns), which were established in 1719 by the As
sembly as the South (Westchester line to Wappinger Creek) ; Middle
(thence north to Esopus Island off the center of Hyde Park) ; and North
(remainder of the county, north to Roeliff Jansen's Kil).
In 1717 Poughkeepsie was named the county seat. A courthouse, first au
thorized in 1715 for erection in the most convenient place in the county,
was again authorized for erection in Poughkeepsie within three years, and
appears to have been completed within the time set. (See Poughkeepsie, p. 31.)
The first completely recorded election of county officers was held at
Poughkeepsie in 1720. Supervisors of the three wards were chosen, together
with constables, collectors, assessors, "overseers of the King's Highway," and
in the North Ward, a "ponner for ofending beasts."
Land Tenure
Despite the growth and increasing affluence of Dutchess, there was much
economic unrest. The source of all property rights was the Crown, to which
patentees expressed allegiance in the form of annual quit-rents of money or
produce. These tributes, together, with frequently excessive rents, were
exacted from the actual cultivators of the land, the tenant-settlers. The man
of Dutchess, therefore, could clear his land, build his home, and till his crops,
but never could he become independent. Nor could he vote, for the suffrage
11
was extended only to the freeholders, absentee landlords for the most part. It
was the feudal system in a form modified to meet American conditions.
Numerous small rebellions against this state of affairs occurred in the
Hudson Valley, and culminated in the celebrated " Anti-Rent War" of 1766.
Armed resistance by the tenant-settlers to the collection of taxes broke out
suddenly in Columbia County and spread rapidly to Dutchess. Here, led by
William Prendergrast, a farmer, a formidable band of insurgents assembled
on Quaker Hill in the town of Pawling. The grenadiers in Poughkeepsie
were ordered to advance against the rioters, but refused until reinforced by
200 troopers and two field pieces from New York. Successful resistance against
such a force was evidently impossible, and Prendergrast surrendered. Tried in
Poughkeepsie and sentenced to be hanged, he received a royal pardon won by
the extraordinary efforts of his wife at the very moment when a company of
50 armed farmers arrived at the jail determined to set him free. The temper
of the populace is obliquely illustrated in an advertisement which appeared
soon after the sentence of Prendergrast offering a large reward "to any one
willing to assist as the executioner, and promising disguise against recogni
tion and protection against insults." Although this brief struggle against the
landlords ended in failure, its reverberations did much to loosen the soil for
the readjustments that followed the Revolution.
Dutchess in the Revolution
The landlord-tenant situation gives a key to the two distinct attitudes
taken in Dutchess towards the Revolution. An English writer at the time of
the war estimated that two-thirds of the wealth of the Province of New
York was owned by the Tories, or Royalists. Dutchess, with its 964 non-
signers of the Revolutionary pledge, as against 1,820 signers, was well
represented in this faction. But the thousands of struggling tenants, who had
actually cleared and cultivated the now wealthy county, were eager for the
political and economic freedom which revolution promised. While the Tory
landlords opposed by every means in their power the soon irresistible move
ment, the common people of Dutchess swelled the ranks of the militia and
the Continental Army, fighting not only for the abolition of unjust taxes
and the right to representation, but for a freeholder's title to the soil. Thus
actuated, they poured out in large numbers, estimated by Governor Clinton
at 10,000, to stem the British invasion in 1777.
The first expression of Dutchess in Revolutionary affairs was the passing
of mollifying resolutions at a meeting in Poughkeepsie in 1774, in which it
was declared that "they (the people of Dutchess) ought, and were willing,
to bear and pay such part and proportion of the national expenses as their
circumstances would admit of." The following year Poughkeepsie was op
posed to the sending of delegates to the Provincial Convention and the
Continental Congress, but was outvoted by the county as a whole.
At the first session of the Provincial Congress of New York in May,
1775, county and precinct Committees of Safety were provided for. Circula
tion of the Articles of Association, or "Pledge," as it was popularly called,
12
to obtain signatures, effectually brought into the open the trend of feeling.
Weapons were confiscated from the non-signers.
The Provincial authorities had determined upon the formation of four
New York regiments, one of which was to be provided by Dutchess County.
This, the 4th Regiment, was completed June 30, 1775.
The year 1777 was critical in the Revolution and was the year in which
Dutchess played its most important part. The paramount question was
control of the Hudson Valley, by which the British could divide the states
and isolate New England. Fishkill,. in its strategic location at the head of
the Highlands and on a direct line of communication with New England,
was the military center of the county. Here troops were quartered, army
supplies stored, and prisoners interned. The newly formed Convention of
Representatives of the State of New York met here from August, 1776, to
February, 1777; and the village was the hospital center for the wounded
from the battle of White Plains.
At Fox's Point, PoUghkeepsie (see p. 45), the American frigates Mont
gomery and Congress were built, as well as fire rafts and other small vessels.
At Theophilus Anthony's (in Rudco, 2 miles south of Poughkeepsie) were
forged parts of the famous chain strung across the Hudson at Fort Mont
gomery to prevent enemy craft from ascending the river. The "Steel Works"
near Amenia were busy manufacturing steel for the use of the army. Grist
mills on every stream were grinding day and night to produce flour for
the troops.
In the crucial British advance up the Hudson, which commenced October
4, 1777, little of note occurred in Dutchess County, though much alarm was
felt and active steps for resistance were taken. On October 8, Governor
Clinton reported that "the eastern militia were coming in very fast," and
that General Putnam, who was in command of the forces east of the river
and had stationed himself at Fishkill, would have "10,000 to head the
enemy should they push up the river." As Putnam is said to have had at
this time only 600 regulars, this figure represents almost entirely the
militiamen recruited from Dutchess.
On October 12, after breaking the famous river chain at Fort Montgomery
(whereupon the two Poughkeepsie-built frigates stationed there for addi
tional defense were fired to prevent their falling into the enemy's hands), a
few vessels under Sir James Wallace proceeded up the river to Theophilus
Anthony's (see above), where much of the chain had been forged. Here they
burned a number of shops and mills.
On October 15 a formidable force under General Vaughn was sent far
ther up the river. The fleet anchored that night above Hyde Park. On the
22d, General Putnam, who had followed from Fishkill as rapidly as pos
sible, was in Red Hook, where a few buildings had been burned by the
British before retiring to their vessels at the approach of the Dutchess
militia. On the 24th, upon being apprised of the surrender of Burgoyne
at Saratoga, the British fleet turned back towards Peekskill, where the
British commander-in-chief, Sir Henry Clinton, had made his head
quarters. This drive, the failure of which was decisive in the war, was the
13
nearest approach towards British control of the Hudson. In the remaining
four years of the war fighting did not again come near Dutchess County.
Ratification of the Federal Constitution
Doubtless the most important and most dramatic event in Dutchess Coun
ty history was the ratification of the Constitution of the United States by
the State of New York in Poughkeepsie in 1788. The events leading up to
the climax of the last ballot were many and varied. From June 17 to the
end of July the village was the temporary home of the "best minds" of one
of the foremost States of the confederated Nation. Governor George Clinton,
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, Melancthon Smith,
Robert Yates, and John Lansing figured prominently in the proceedings.
Sixty of the 65 elected delegates were in attendance. Governor Clinton, the
chief opponent of ratification, was unanimously chosen chairman and was
thus handicapped in debate, in which he was talented and brilliant. Chan
cellor Livingston of Dutchess and Alexander Hamilton, who had been
largely instrumental in drafting the Constitution, led the ranks of its sup
porters.
The village throbbed to the debates. Tears flowed freely during some of
the passionate pleadings of the talented Hamilton, who, as was proved by
the final ballot, did not plead in vain. Nor was the opposition of Governor
Clinton without benefit, for it resulted in the adoption of the Bill of Rights
amendments, which in later years proved to be the backbone of the Consti
tution.
Aside from the demand for a guarantee of liberty, opposition to ratifica
tion was based on the importance of the Hudson River and the prosperity
of shipping in the port of New York. Dutchess delegates subscribed to
Clinton's opinion that by a tax on this shipping New York would be called
upon to defray a disproportionate share of the Federal expense, while as an
independent state it would easily be self-supporting. As debate progressed, the
Dutchess delegates yielded this contention, but remained firm in their de
mand that the proposed Constitution be amended to include the New York
Bill of Rights as a condition of ratification.
On June 24 word was received that New Hampshire, the ninth state,
had accepted the Constitution. Virginia was still unaccounted for, and
without her and New York the success of the Union was doubtful. On the
afternoon of the second of July, Col. Henry Livingston, riding a foam-
covered horse, galloped into Poughkeepsie to announce to the assembly that
Virginia had unconditionally ratified the Constitution. He had ridden from
New York in 10 hours, record time for those days. The news he carried
was a blow to Clinton and his followers; to Hamilton, Jay, and Livingston
it brought fresh hope and strengthened argument. On July 15, Melancthon
Smith of Dutchess, one of the strongest opponents of ratification, moved
for acceptance "on condition" that the Constitution be amended to include
the Bill of Rights. Since the word condition would render ineffective a vote
of ratification, the proposal was not acceptable to Hamilton and his fol
lowers. Finally a motion was made to substitute the words "in full con-
14
fidence" for "on condition," and to this Smith acquiesced. This proved to be
the climax of the assembly. On July 26 a final ballot was taken, and the
Constitution was ratified, "in full confidence," by a majority of 30 to 27.
Melancthon Smith, Zephaniah Platt, and Gilbert Livingston, three Dutchess
County delegates, had changed their votes from nay to aye. Without these
affirmative Dutchess votes New York would have remained, for the time
being at least, a separate sovereignty, endangering the Union at its very in
ception.
Commercial and Industrial Development
After the Revolution river traffic increased rapidly. Poughkeepsie, mid
way on the river shore, soon pushed to the front as a commercial center.
(See Poughkeepsie, pp. 25-26.) Other river villages, Fishkill Landing, New
Hamburg, Rhinebeck, Red Hook also flourished. In all these places power
was supplied by the all-important streams. On Landsman's Kil, in Rhine-
beck, grist and sawmills stood so close together that the water from one
mill pond occasionally backed up and interfered with the operation of the
water wheel of the mill above. An ample supply of raw materials encour
aged these early industries. The hills of the county were covered with virgin
timber, and the cleared fields produced crops unexcelled in the State for
quality and abundance. Transportation facilities and the proximity of the
growing New York market combined to bring Dutchess to a temporary
leadership among the agricultural counties of the State.
Next to the river, highways were most important in determining the
early development of the county. The King's Highway (Albany Post Road),
the first officially authorized road through the county, exerted a marked
influence upon the development of village centers, as in the case of Pough
keepsie, which grew around the intersection of this road with the road from
the east, rather than on the riverbank. The cattle drovers' route from Ver
mont and New Hampshire to New York had an important effect on the
growth of the Harlem Valley villages of Amenia, Dover, and Pawling.
Stagecoaches began running regularly over the Post Road from New
York to Albany in 1786. The necessity of changing horses every 10 or 20
miles led to the establishment of the stage houses. In the hamlets these
taverns were the centers of community life; travelers enlivened discussions
with the latest news, and liquor flowed freely. De Chastellux, traveling twice
through Dutchess, in 1780 and 1782, writes that he found taverns enough,
but few sufficiently unoccupied to accommodate him. It is believed that by
1800 there were nine taverns in Rhinebeck alone.
By 1813 the industrial development of the county was well under way,
and sloop-freighting had assumed large proportions. Of paramount im
portance was the commerce in flour. During the first third of the nineteenth
century Dutchess County ranked first among New York State counties in
wheat production, supplying one third of all the flour produced in the State.
Spafford's Gazetteer (1813) lists 14 gristmills in the town of Pough
keepsie alone. Iron mines were in operation at Amenia, Deep Hollow,
15
Sylvan Lake, and Clove Valley. Nails were manufactured in Poughkeepsie
as early as 1805. The next year saw the first of the Vassar breweries. In 1811
began the development of the textile industry. In 1814 the first iron works
were founded in Poughkeepsie, ore being transported by mule teams from
the mines at Sylvan Lake. (See Tour 3, p. 134.) Fluxing lime came from
Barnegat, and charcoal from various neighboring pits. The pre-Revolutionary
shipyard at Poughkeepsie has been mentioned; others sprang up at Wap-
pingers Landing in 1812 and at Chelsea in 1828. In the former, several
United States gunboats were built, in the latter several of the early steam
boats. In 1812 a slate company was formed in the town of North East for
the production of flagging and slate roofing. Marble quarries thrived in the
town of Dover. But brickmaking at Fishkill Landing (Beacon), which was
well supplied with the necessary clay and sand, is the only important early
manufacturing industry of the county that has continued to the present. (See
Beacon, p. 64.)
The Harlem Valley Railroad, the first in the county, was constructed in
1845; the Hudson River Railroad followed in 1849; both are now included
in the New York Central system. Later came the Poughkeepsie & Eastern
and the Dutchess & Columbia (later the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecti
cut), both now a part of the New York, New Haven & Hartford lines.
The Civil War put an end to many county enterprises. In contrast to
their forefathers of the Revolutionary period, in the 1860's the men of
Dutchess were wholehearted supporters of the Union. Men and money
were supplied freely. The 150th Infantry, mustered into service October
11, 1862, was entirely recruited in the county, and many more local men
joined other units.
In the period following the Civil War industrial development in Pough
keepsie and Beacon was intensified. Dutchess turned to the manufacture of
agricultural implements for the rest of the State, with Adriance-Platt har
vesters, Moline plows, and DeLaval separators. Other special types of in
dustries developed. Beacon became a center of hat manufacturing. A cotton
16
Van Kleeck House, built in 1702
bleachery was established at Wappingers Falls. Recently a trend to garment
manufacture has appeared in Poughkeepsie. A number of small establish
ment, have located over Main Street stores, and several large concerns are
scattered throughout the city.
Agriculture
Parallel with the rise of industry came a decline in grain production,
chiefly as a result of improvements in transportation. The completion of the
Erie Canal in 1825 made competition with the West impossible. The change
that of necessity took place was, however, accomplished gradually. By 1860,
although agriculture still led industry, Dutchess had fallen to third among
New York counties in the cash value of its farms and fifth in cultivated
area. Not until 1880 at the earliest, however, can it be said that wheat prac
tically disappeared as a cash crop, and even today an appreciable amount of
grain is grown for local consumption.
Meanwhile, as in industry, Dutchess turned to specialized agriculture,
with the trend determined by available markets and local variations in soil.
In dairying, which replaced wheat in the position of first importance, the
Harlem Valley towns quickly assumed leadership. Since earliest times isola
tion from the river had turned them to cattle raising; and the very rail
roads which rendered them unable to compete with western beef encouraged
them in the production of milk and milk products for New York City. By
1860 Pawling and Dover had become milk centers for the New York
market, and are said to have been soon afterward the most important milk-
producing section in the State.
The river counties especially, with Red Hook as a center, turned to the
raising of apples. (See Tour No. i.) In the northwestern section of the
county the cultivation of violets was put on a commercial basis.
Thus with the diversion of land to these purposes, the last quarter of the
19th century saw the peak of agricultural expansion in Dutchess in terms
of land area, accompanied, however, by a rapidly accelerated decline in
relative value. In 1880 farm land, including wood and swamp sections con
nected with farms, amounted to 95 percent of the total area of the county.
In the 20th century, rapid refrigerated transportation exposed the Dutchess
dairy industry to upstate and western competition, which it found difficult
to meet because of high overhead costs. As a result dairying has in recent
years suffered a marked decline, though it still holds a place of importance
in the county. In 1930 the total area of farm land in the county had de
creased to 65.5 percent.
With their decline in agricultural importance, the fine river lands and
attractive farms were subjected to an active movement of conversion into
country estates and summer homes. In the case of Hyde Park, long a fash
ionable New York summer resort, between 1800 and 1900 a quarter of the
land came into the hands of 13 men and was developed into river estates
averaging 482 acres each. This trend established itself in other sections of
the county a generation later. With improved roads and a steady decrease in
the relative value of farm products, New Yorkers are yearly taking over
17
more of the rustic and now easily accessible lands and homesteads. It ap
pears that the gradual suburbanization of Dutchess is in progress.
Population
In 1930 Dutchess County, with a population of 105,462, ranked nine
teenth among the 62 counties of the State. This figure showed an increase of
13,715 over 1920. In the former year, 82.5 percent of the population was
native-born white, 14.5 percent foreign-born white, and 3 percent Negroes.
Of the foreign born 5,859 reside in Poughkeepsie and 2,138 in Beacon. Of
the remainder, Milan and Hyde Park have the largest percentage, while
Fishkill, Pawling, and Amenia have the lowest. Approximately 16 percent of
the farm population is foreign born, mainly of Italian, Austrian, Polish, and
Czechoslovakian origin. There are a few Dutch, British, French, and
Russians, and, more rarely, Scandinavians. Italian groups have concentrated
in the industrial centers, particularly in the cities of Poughkeepsie and
Beacon and in the village of Wappingers Falls. The Slavic nationalities are
found chiefly in Milan, Red Hook, Pleasant Valley, Hyde Park, and Stan
ford.
While the population as a whole is increasing, the density of population
per square mile is decreasing, indicating a trend toward urbanization. In
1920, the township of Milan had a population density of 28; in 1930 the
index had fallen to 17: 10 percent of the farms were abandoned during the
decade.
Political Organization
Dutchess County is divided into 20 townships, the first of which were
formed in 1788 from the original wards (later precincts) into which the
county had been divided. They are Red Hook, Milan, Pine Plains, North
East, Rhinebeck, Clinton, Stanford, Amenia, Hyde Park, Pleasant Valley,
Washington, Poughkeepsie, LaGrange, Union Vale, Dover, Wappinger,
Beekman, Fishkill, East Fishkill, and Pawling. Fishkill, the smallest, has
an area of 24.4 square miles; Washington, the largest, 56.5 square miles.
The eight incorporated villages, scattered throughout the county, are Fish-
kill, Millbrook, Millerton, Pawling, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Tivoli-Madalin,
and Wappingers Falls. Pleasant Valley was an incorporated village until
1926, when its charter was dissolved and it became a part of the township.
The townships are governed by the County Board of Supervisors, com
posed of 32 members, one elected from each township and one from each
ward of the two cities (Poughkeepsie, eight, and Beacon, four wards). Dutch-
ess County is represented in the State legislature by two members of the as
sembly. One senator is elected from the 28th senatorial district, which in
cludes Dutchess, Putnam, and Columbia Counties.
Education
Education in Dutchess County was concentrated in private schools until
late in the 19th century. Poughkeepsie had at one time more than a dozen,
18
Old Brewery at the River Front
and Beacon was the home of several. With the development of the public
school system, these schools gradually disappeared. To-day in the two cities
of the county there are a few business institutes, and parochial schools ar^
connected with the larger parishes of the Roman Catholic Church. Out
side of the cities, however, private schools have continued to flourish, espe
cially colleges and preparatory and elementary schools, such as Vassar and
Bard Colleges, Bennett, Fox Hollow, Pawling, Millbrook, Oakwood, and
Manumit schools.
The county public school sytsefn is to-day undergoing a movement toward
centralization, with transportation for students to the new central schools.
Large, well-constructed buildings with modern equipment and up-to-date
teaching techniques are supplanting the old one-room "little red school-
houses." There are, however, many of the latter still in use scattered about
the county.
In the rural schools 60 percent of the enrollment is made up of chil
dren from farms, 40 percent from villages. Although the farm is so heavily
represented, the Pine Plains High School is the only one in the county which
offers courses in agriculture and homemaking. Supplementing the training
offered in the rural school system are 25 4-H Clubs (Heart, Hand, Head,
and Health) under the sponsorship of the Dutchess County Farm Bureau,
with a total membership of 615 school children. With the aid of these clubs
the children study scientific methods of farming and stock raising, canning,
and many handicrafts.
19
Religion
The early settlers of Dutchess County showed a tendency to sectional
segregation of religious sects. The Dutch Reformed Church was concen
trated in the southwest, the Palatine congregations (Lutherans and German
Calvinists), with a sprinkling of French Huguenots, in the northwest, the
Society of Friends (Quakers) in the central and southeastern sections.
The Dutch, who then composed the majority of the population, were the
first to establish church congregations. These occurred simultaneously in
the three wards into which the county was then divided. The first church
building to be erected, however, was the old German Church in Kirchehoek,
town of Rhinebeck, which edifice had been built in 1716 as a union church for
Lutherans and Calvinists. Dutch churches followed in Poughkeepsie in
1723 and in Fishkill in 1731, and the Presbyterian Church in Brinckerhoff
in 1747. The Methodist and Baptist churches were organized shortly after
1800. A Roman Catholic missionary visited the county in 1781 and ministered
to Acadian refugees banished from their homes in Nova Scotia. There was
no Roman Catholic organization, however, until 1832, when an association
was formed to raise funds for the erection of a church, Saint Peter's, in
Poughkeepsie.
The younger church organizations, formed after the beginning of the 19th
century, have developed rapidly and have in large part supplanted the older
denominations in leadership. Union churches, in the sense of one church
building serving two congregations, have with one or two exceptions ceased
to exist, although it is commonly the case that suppers, parties, and enter
tainments for the benefit of one sect are strongly supported by all, and union
services are regularly held on special days like Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and Easter. This is done to promote the attendance of larger congrega
tions than any individual church can draw. The dearth to-day is not of
church edifices but rather of supporting members.
The Catholic, Methodist, and Baptist Churches, established in Dutchess
after 1800, maintain organizations throughout the county. The Dutch Re
formed, German Lutheran, Episcopal, and to a lesser degree the Presbyterian,
hold to the sections in which they were first established. The Society of
Friends has in most part been displaced, and all but seven of their meeting
houses have either been removed or are utilized for other purposes. Oakwood
School, a coeducational boarding school, is maintained in part by endow
ments of the New York Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends.
The Church of Christ Scientist, first established in Poughkeepsie in 1898,
now maintains two churches in that city.
The Jewish congregations maintain synagogues in Poughkeepsie, Beacon,
and Amenia, and elsewhere hold services in private homes.
20
Social Life
The social life of rural and suburban Dutchess County centers in the
public schools, the village church, the village grange, and the veteran or
ganizations, and finds expression in such activities as clambakes, portion
suppers, food sales, school plays, dancing, sewing bees, and horseshoe
pitching contests. The 25 grange units in the county hold general meet
ings twice a month and frequent group meetings. While the primary ob
ject of the grange is to promote the economic interests of the farmer,
it is also the center of his social life.
Sunday afternoon, formerly spent in neighborhood visiting, is now us
ually devoted to automobile riding or listening to the radio. The younger
generation depends largely upon movies and roadside taverns for amuse
ment. The older generation of farmers has not contracted the "movie"
habit.
It has been found that in church and grange social gatherings there is
a noticeable split between the farmers and the villagers, though the new
centralized school system is gradually uniting the children and eliminat
ing social distinction between these groups.
The larger towns, while clinging to many of the pleasures and customs
of the countryside, have a larger variety of organizations, such as are
associated with the more complicated town life. Service clubs and commer
cial, social, and educational societies have arisen in response to the charac
teristics and needs of the population groups. With the improvement in
transportation facilities throughout the county, the differences between the
social life of the towns and that of the country are slowly being obliterated,
especially in the case of the young, who can only with more and more diffi
culty be kept on the farm.
Architecture
The oldest houses now standing in Dutchess date back to the days of
the first settlement. They are built of rough stone, of which the settlers
found an abundance on their lands. The same type of house continued
to be built for about 100 years, and remains in considerable numbers,
though often greatly altered and increased in size in later periods. Frame
houses were built somewhat later than stone, and brick was little used be
fore 1750. The reason for this choice is obvious. Stone was to be had for
the labor of picking it up, lumber could be cut on any farmer's land but
demanded more skill in its use, while brick must be either bought and
transported, or else made locally, involving time and equipment. However,
brick was more highly esteemed; as the country became more prosperous
its use became more general, and by 1800 the practice of building in
stone had almost ceased.
The early stone houses were generally one and one-half story high,
with roofs of moderate pitch. The high-pitched roofs and crow-stepped
gables of Albany County do not occur in Dutchess. Gambrel roofs are
21
rarer here than in other parts of the Hudson Valley, and are found mainly
on brick or frame houses built after 1750; less often on stone houses. Hip
roofs are almost unknown, the plain gable being the usual type, with the
roof carried over the gables, not stopped against them, as is the case in many
examples in Albany and New York City.
About the middle of the eighteenth century brick and stone came to be used
in combination, sometimes with brick in front and stone in the rear, some
times with brick gable ends topping stone walls. Houses built entirely
of brick were rare until after the Revolution. Frame houses were occasionally
built at an early period, but until about 1750 their use was not general.
Most of the early building was done by the settlers themselves, the
county then having few artisans. The stone walls are usually about 2 feet
thick. Lime kilns are known to have existed in Dutchess before the Revolu
tion, one group having been located near the present Camelot station, at
what was then called Barnegat (Dutch for firehole) in the town of Pough-
keepsie. A sawmill existed at Poughkeepsie as early as 1699, and there were no
doubt others of not much later date. The first frame houses had thick walls
filled with clay between the timbers, but brick filling was soon generally
used. They were covered with wide clapboards, with shingles, or with
shakes, often with rounded ends, as may still be seen in the Teller house
in Beacon.
It is a matter of record that a carpenter was hired for the work on the
Teller house and lodged by the owners until it was completed. For
the brick houses of the post-Revolutionary period, expert masons were
evidently employed, for we find many houses of this date built with a degree
of skill that plainly shows the trained artisan; while others were evidently
built by the settlers or by country carpenters of ability.
The first houses were small and simple. Many had but two rooms, usually
with a hall between. Others had four rooms, two on each side of the
hall, the front rooms usually larger than those in the rear. There were
other variations, including a type with no hall, each room having its own
outer door. L-shaped and T-shaped plans are represented, but these are
generally the result of later enlargement. Many small old houses have
been extended by the addition of larger buildings, the original house serving
as a wing.
A distinctive feature of Dutchess houses is the Dutch door with its
horizontal division, which was almost universal in the county from the
earliest days to the nineteenth century. The style, of course, varies: the earliest
doors are of the batten type, while the later are paneled, often with con
siderable elegance. Bull's eyes were often introduced, and later, sidelights
and overdoor panels with leaded glass. Casement windows were probably
used in the older houses, though few remain. The first houses had few
windows, and these were small, for glass was expensive and heating difficult.
After the Revolution the county became one of the most prosperous in the
Hudson Valley, and its population increased rapidly. Many handsome frame
and brick houses were built in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and
22
the early part of the nineteenth, and many older houses were improved or en
larged. Adam mantels characterize this period, usually with composition
ornaments. In many cases they have been added to older fireplaces and
paneling. Another type of mantel, found also at this time, has Dutch sun
bursts and reeding, cut in the wood with gouges and molding planes. Much
of this work was done by country carpenters in a rather crude imitation
of the designs from the popular pattern books, but some of the work done
between 1790 and 1820 is equal to that in the cities. About 1820 the
Empire influence began to be felt, and about 10 years later the Greek
Revival became the fashion, though some good Colonial detail of later date
is still extant. From the Greek Revival period on, Dutchess has followed
the popular fashions in architecture, few of which have had any special
merit.
With the improvement in transportation, many old estates along the
Hudson have become the summer homes of wealthy New Yorkers. Some
of these estates preserve old houses, usually much enlarged. Others have
new houses, palatial in scale and in all manner of current styles.
In addition to dwellings, each village had one or more churches. Built
of the same materials as the dwellings of the time, these were of the usual
Colonial type, simple and dignified, commonly with a square tower or
belfry at one end. The Lutheran stone church, built by the Palatines
north of Rhinebeck on the Post Road, was of the same general type. The
Quaker meetinghouses, of which several still remain, form an exception.
They differ from the usual church type in being broader than deep, and
in the extreme simplicity of their lines, unbroken by towers and belfries.
They have separate entrances for men and women, with separate stairs
leading to a balcony. The body of the church and the balcony are divided
by a partition, usually with sliding panels.
The farmhouses that were used as taverns differed little, if at all, from
other dwellings. A few barns and mills of the early days remain, but they
are naturally simple and utilitarian, though with much charm and character.
Recent years have produced many large buildings in Dutchess County,
including factories, hotels, State hospitals, churches, and government offices,
but few of them have such architectural merit as to make them noteworthy.
An exception is Vassar College, the buildings of which have been designed
of a century, though some of them, taken individually, are decidedly better
than average. The heterogeneous styes and materials are saved from discord
by capable architects. As in the case of most of our American colleges, Vassar
buildings present a history of architectural taste during the past three-quarters
by the magnificent trees and lovely gardens that adorn the college grounds.
23
POUGHKEEPSIE
Railroad Stations: New York Central, Hudson River Division, entrances near
foot of Main St. and at foot of Mill St. New York, New Haven & Hartford (freight
only), Cottage St., near Smith St.
Bus Station: New Market St.; all lines for all points.
Airport: Poughkeepsie Airport, 5 m. SE. of city on State 376; taxi to port, $1.25; time,
15 min.
Steamboat Docks: All at foot of Main St. Poughkeepsie-Highland Ferry (R), con
nections with New York Central R. R. (West Shore) ; Central Hudson Steamboat Co.
(L) ; Hudson River Dayline, N. of ferry slip.
Taxis: At R. R. station, 5oc; all others, 25C within city limits.
City Busses: Fare roc, 3 tokens 25c; to Wappingers Falls, 25C.
Traffic Regulations: Speed limit, 30 m. p. h. No turns on red light. Full stop at inter
sections with Stop signs. Parking limit in business section one hour.
Accommodations: Nelson House (E), $2.00, Market St.; Campbell Hotel (E), $2.50,
Cannon St.; Windsor Hotel (E), $1.50, Main and Catharine Sts. ; King's Court (E),
$1.50, Cannon St.
Information: Chamber of Commerce, 57 Market St.; Nelson House, 28 Market St.
Street Order: Main St., running E. and W., divides the city into "north side" and
"south side." Market St. (Albany Post Road) runs S. and Washington St. (Albany
Post Road) runs N. from Main St., bisecting the city.
Theatres and Motion Picture Houses: No legitimate theatre; six motion picture
houses on Main, Market, Cannon, and Liberty Sts.
Baseball: Butts Memorial Field, Church St. and Quaker Lane ; Twilight League and
county championship games in Eastman Park.
Horseshoe Pitching: Free municipal courts in Butts Memorial Field.
Ice Skating: Eastman Park.
Golf: College Hill Park municipal course, North Clinton St., nine holes, 4oc $1.00
greens fee; Dutchess County Golf and Country Club (see Tour 3, p. 125), 18 holes,
$2.00 greens fee.
Tennis: Free municipal courts in Butts Memorial Field, College Hill Park, Eastman
Park, and King Street Park (Corlies Ave. and King St.) ; Poughkeepsie Tennis Club,
137 S. Hamilton St., admission by invitation.
Swimming: Open air pool at Wheaton Park, children only, foot of Mill St. Popular
swimming holes at Greenvale Park, admission sc, 3 m. SE. on State 376, and
Morello's Pleasure Park, admission ice, 2% m. NE. on Creek Road, continuation of
Smith St.
Riding: Rombout Hunt Club, 2% m. SE. on State 376, scene of Vassar Horse Show
in May, and the Hunter Trials in October, admission by invitation; Greenvale
Riding Academy, at Rombout Hunt Club, by appointment, $i per hour with instruc
tions; Vassar Riding Academy, 10 Raymond Ave., by appointment, $i per hour
with instruction.
Annual Events: Intercollegiate Regatta, on the Hudson, late in June. Concerts of
the Dutchess County Musical Association during the winter. Concerts of the Euterpe
Glee Club (male voices), Orpheus Glee Club (male), Germania Singing Society
(male and female), and Lyric Glee Club (female), end of winter.
24
POUGHKEEPSIE (173 alt., 40,288 pop.), has long been known as the
"Bridge City of the Hudson" because of the older of the two great bridges
which span the river at this point. (See Water-front Tour.) It is the county
seat of Dutchess County and enjoys wide renown as the seat of Vassar
College and scene of the annual Intercollegiate Regatta. During the Revo
lutionary period it enjoyed a brief interval of national importance. From
1777 to 1784, before it was incorporated as a village, it was the capital
of New York State. The little community was then the modest metropolis
of the wealthiest and most populous of the 14 counties. The outstanding
event of the period and of the entire history of Poughkeepsie was the
ratification by New York State of the Federal Constitution in 1788.
(See p. 14.) Otherwise the city has been locally prominent as the indus
trial and shipping center of what was long a rich agricultural area.
Poughkeepsie is situated on the east bank of tHe tidewater Hudson, mid
way between New York and Albany. The pattern of the city is like that of
many Hudson River towns. The long Main Street climbs the steep slope
from the river, and, lined with offices, shops, and public buildings, extends
eastward for about 2 miles. At the crest of the hill Main intersects with
Market Street, which stretches north and south along the plateau. This
is the center of the business district, passed by the flow of motor traffic
on the Albany Post Road. The city has spread out in streets roughly paral
leling these two thoroughfares, the newer sections departing from any
orderly arrangement.
Architecturally, downtown Poughkeepsie presents the miscellaneous col
lection of buildings characteristic of older towns which grew up before
the days of city planning. Brick and frame structures of varied heights are
crowded together. An occasional old residence has kept its foothold, the
lower floor pressed into commercial service. The residential districts in
turn reflect the tastes and styles of their periods. The finest dwellings of
the pre-Civil War period have almost all been destroyed or fallen into
ruin. West of Market Street there are still numerous examples of the
simple, substantial brick town house of the early nineteenth century. Along
the water front, where the largest industries superseded the most pretentious
dwellings of the city, the scene is one of alternate activity and dilapidation.
The economic life of Poughkeepsie is about evenly divided between in
dustry and commerce, with no one trade or product predominating. In
1930, 40 percent of the wage earners were employed in manufacturing, the
rest in the building and service trades, and in selling. Because of its location
on the Hudson and at the junction of two great railroad systems, the city
is growing in importance as a distributing point. The Dutton Lumber
Company (see p. 40), the largest of four, stores lumber from the West Coast,
the Scandinavian countries, and the U. S. S. R. for reshipment to New York
and other eastern points.
The chief manufacturing concerns are the De Laval Separator Company,
producers of cream separators and oil clarifiers, and the Schatz Manufac
turing Company, makers of ball bearings. There is one large cigar com-
25
pany, one trousers factory, and two companies producing neckties. Numerous
smaller shops make men's and women's garments, machine parts, wood
work, cough drops, ice cream, and loose-leaf notebooks.
The Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation has general offices on
Phoenix Place. This corporation, with approximately one thousand em
ployes, serves a territory of 2,600 miles, including Dutchess and Putnam,
and portions of Albany, Greene, Ulster, Orange and Columbia Counties. The
company operates an electric generating plant and gas manufacturing plant
in Poughkeepsie.
There are many small clothing manufacturing establishments employing
women almost exclusively. In 1930, 29 percent of the industrial workers
in Poughkeepsie were women, almost all of them employed in these shops.
Effective labor organization in Poughkeepsie is limited to the construction
trades.
The Poughkeepsie retail market, in the case of its large department
stores, extends beyond the Dutchess County borders, east into Connecticut
and south as far as Peekskill. Merchants complain that the high tolls on
the Mid-Hudson Bridge prevent the possible extension of that market
to the west side of the river. Like every city feeding on industry and a
large agricultural hinterland, the streets and stores of Poughkeepsie are
busiest on Saturday afternoon, with Main Street east of Market carrying
the heaviest burden. Though wide as streets go, and though busses have
been substituted for trolleys, the normal condition of Main Street is one
of congestion.
Native-born whites constitute about 82 percent of the total population
of Poughkeepsie, or 34,429 persons out of 40,288. Of the remaining 18
percent, 15 percent, or 5,859, are foreign-born whites, and about 1,200,
or 3 percent, are Negroes. These percentages are identical with those for
the county as a whole. The Negroes in Poughkeepsie are grouped in two
sections, William Street in the southwest, and Pershing Avenue, in the
east central part of the city.
In the foreign-born group Italians and Slavs predominate. Employed for
the most part in local factories, they make their homes in the northwestern
part of the city, which lies north of Main Street and west of Washington
Street. The Italian section includes the area between Main and Duane
Streets and joins a region occupied by people of Slavic origin to the west
of Delafield Street.
Thirty-nine churches serve Poughkeepsie and its immediate vicinity. Of
these 23 are Protestant (including 2 Negro churches), 7 Catholic, 4 Hebrew,
1 Orthodox Greek, and 4 undenominational. The Catholic churches include
4 with services in a foreign tongue Italian, Polish, German, and Slavic.
The Greek Orthodox Church is a member of the Archdiocese of North
America and South America, which in turn is subordinate to the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Presbyterian, dating from 1749, was the first organized English
church group in Poughkeepsie. The First Presbyterian Church, a large gray
26
stone structure in Romanesque style, at the corner of Cannon and South
Hamilton Streets, is an outgrowth of this early organization.
In conjunction with the Protestant churches there are several young
peoples' and social organizations, the best known being the Christian En
deavor, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Young Peoples' Societies, and Ladies Aids.
The Catholic churches also offer social activities to their members in the
Holy Name Society, St. Aloysius Sodality, Altar Society, Children bf
Mary, Rosary Society, Sodality of the Holy Angels, and Sodality of the
Infant Jesus. The Jewish social life is centered in the Hebrew Fraternal and
Benevolent Society, the Men's Club of Vassar Temple, and the Jewish
Center.
The chief social service activities in Poughkeepsie are carried on in
Lincoln Center. (See p. 46.) The part that Vassar College plays in that
work illustrates its wider significance in the community life, especially
in the fields of intellectual and cultural interests.
The Poughkeepsie public school system is housed in 14 buildings. There
are nine grammar schools, one high school, and two buildings devoted to
high school freshmen, as well as a trade school, a continuation school, and
an evening school. Incorporated in the system are medical and dental clinics.
The curriculum in the grade schools includes physical education, art, music,
homemaking, and manual arts, as well as the traditional three R's. The
high school offers college preparatory, academic, commercial, and home-
making courses, and training in art, music, dramatics, and debating. The
Poughkeepsie High School debating teams were champions of the 1932
State National Forensic League tournament, held in Albany; and in the
national competition the same year at Sioux City, Iowa, the school was one
of the 44 competing for the national championship.
The journalistic history of Poughkeepsie began with the career of John
Holt, who published the New York Journal and General Advertiser in
New York City until driven out by the British in 1776. He subsequently
fled to Kingston, and thence to Poughkeepsie, always a step ahead of the
advancing enemy, and always publishing his paper. Although printed in
Poughkeepsie, it was not a local publication, but carried foreign news and
items from all parts of the country.
The first distinctly local newspaper in Poughkeepsie was the Pough
keepsie Journal, published by Nicholas Powers. The present Poughkeepsie
Eagle-News is a fusion of numerous newspapers going back to two principal
ancestors, the Poughkeepsie Journal (1785) and the Dutchess Intelligencer
(1828). Through the years the names, owners, and policies of the papers
frequently changed. The Dutchess Intelligencer became the Poughkeepsie
Eagle in 1834 and was united with the Poughkeepsie Journal and Eagle
in 1844. In 1850, the name was changed to the Poughkeepsie Eagle, which
became a weekly, and in 1860 to the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, a daily.
In 1892 it was given the present name.
This paper has been closely associated with the development of the city,
often having led in the advocacy of public improvements. Since the Daily
27
Eagle made its appearance on December 4, 1860, the name of Platt has
been closely associated with it. The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge was
first publicly proposed in an editorial written by John I. Platt in the issue
of January 22, 1868. In 1889 Platt & Platt published the folio size Souvenir
Edition of the Poughkeepsie Eagle, with its many illustrations, photo
graphs, and historical data depicting the growth of Poughkeepsie. Its accu
racy and completeness of detail still make it a valuable work of reference.
The Poughkeepsie Eagle-News is now published by Platt and Platt, In
corporated, and the Poughkeepsie Evening Star and Enterprise by the Pough
keepsie Publishing Corporation.
The Sunday Courier was first published by Thomas G. Nichols in 1872,
and has continued an unbroken existence to this day. Upon Mr. Nichols's
death in 1890, Arthur G. Tobey assumed control until his death in 1911,
when his son, Earle D. Tobey, became the editor. Mr. Earle D. Tobey
supervised for a quarter of a century, a newspaper dedicated to the best in
terests of city and county. The Courier is now managed by his widow,
Florence D. Tobey. It claims the distinction of being the only Sunday
publication between New York City and Albany.
Intercollegiate Regatta
The famous Intercollegiate Regatta has familiarized the nation with the
name of Poughkeepsie. For two days the city is host to thousands of visitors
from all parts of the country. From many years of exeperience, the plans of
entertainment and accommodations have been perfected, and these days have
a definite place on the municipal calendar. The outstanding competitors that
have appeared in recent years include California, Columbia, Cornell, M. I.
T., Navy, Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Washington and Wisconsin. The recent
victories of the Washington crew have attracted a large group from the
Pacific Coast.
The three races Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity are scheduled
at one-hour intervals late in the afternoon of a mid-June day, the exact time
determined by the tide. The setting is one of the most beautiful that can be
imagined, and the scene a pageant of rhythm and color. The race course
includes an imposing section of the river valley the two bridges spanning
the stream between the rocky bluffs with patches of woods on the west,
and the broken slope of the city waterfront on the east. On the west shore
observation cars, crowded to capacity, follow the races from start to finish.
Great crowds stand on the bluffs and bridges. All available motor space is
packed with cars. Yachts, launches and row boats are anchored in the river,
leaving only space for the race course. Boats fly flags and the gay college
banners. At the signal, a bomb fired on the railroad bridge, a slow procession
starts down the river. Appearing as tiny specks in the distance the long,
slender shells slip smoothly down the channel under the two bridges toward
the finish, accompanied by the cheers of the spectators and the blowing of
sirens and whistles from the boats.
28
Three times the spectacle is repeated, consuming in all about three hours.
After the last race, bets are paid, the river traffic scatters, and the crowds
on the shore begin a tediously slow but good-humored exodus: the crowd
on foot mills around, cars move at a snail's pace ; vendors of pennants and
souvenirs offer their wares at sacrifice prices. In a few hours the river scene
is quiet ; by morning the city has resumed its normal routine.
The date given for the first modern intercollegiate regatta at Pough-
keepsie is 1895. But the local history of this and allied sports goes back far
beyond that year.
Crew and single sculling races have taken place here for a century.
Another sport still more closely identified with Poughkeepsie was the ice
yachting which flourished from 1807 to 1908, the modern form of which
is said to have originated here.
In 1807 the ice yacht was first introduced as a racing craft by Zadock
Southwick and was subsequently made known to the world through the
activities of the Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club. In 1858 the skate boat was
developed, and experiments were made with various kinds of steel runners and
different cuts of sails. The type ultimately accepted was designed by Jacob
Buckhout, who has been called the "creator of the modern ice boat."
(See Chelsea.)
The Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club, representing the first formal organi
zation of the sport, was founded by prominent Poughkeepsians in 1861. Its
headquarters were in the Vassar Brewery until the brewery closed. Then
it merged with the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club at Hyde Park, where
all ice-boating activities have centered since establishment of the all-winter
Poughkeepsie ferry in 1908.
Most famous of the old craft were the Icicle and the Haze of John A.
Roosevelt and Aaron Innis, the former of which won the American ice
boat pennant in 1903.
In the last 20 years, the growth of Albany as a port and the consequent
employment of ice breakers between Albany and the sea throughout the
winter, have virtually put an end to ice boating on this part of the Hudson.
Only exciting memories of the sport remain.
The first recorded rowing regatta held on the Hudson at Poughkeepsie was
rowed August 11, 1839, by the "Washington" crew of Poughkeepsie and
the "Robert S. Bache" crew of Brooklyn over a 2-mile course, the Pough
keepsie crew winning. Subsequent early races were for a time rowed at New-
burgh, but interest in the sport began definitely to center in Poughkeepsie
after the staging here in September 1860, of a 2-day regatta in which
Poughkeepsie crews won all events in both four- and six-oared races. In
November of the same year occurred the celebrated race between Joshua
Ward of Poughkeepsie, American single scull champion, and William Berger
of Newburgh over a 10-mile course. Three thousand spectators on the river-
banks watched Ward win.
Poughkeepsie's great boat of the Civil War period was called the Stranger,
with a crew organized from employees of local cooperages. Its last and most
29
celebrated race, July 18, 1865, was against the boat rowed by the Biglin
crew representing New York, over a 5-mile course for a $6,000 purse
and the American championship. As 20,000 spectators watched from the river-
banks, the Stranger, after trailing over a large part of the course, reached
and began to pass the Biglins, but was cut off and came in second. Because
of the interference, however, the Stranger was declared the victor. Referee
and judges were chased by an infuriated crowd into the Poughkeepsie Hotel
and barely escaped with their lives. The decision was finally reversed and
given 'to the New York crew. For days before and after this race the town
seethed with unprecedented brawls and disturbances.
The Shatemuc Boat Club, the first of its kind in Poughkeepsie, was or
ganized in 1861, with headquarters in a canal boat anchored off the Upper
Landing. (See p. 42). In 1870, after the canal boat had been dashed against
the rocks and wrecked, a new boathouse was built, which the club used
until its dissolution in 1878. In 1879 the building was reopened by the
Apokeepsian Boat Club, a new organization of 40 members, which, with
club socials, minstrel entertainments, and regattas, soon became prominent
in the social life of the town. After a long decline, this club was dissolved
in 1929.
Just before the World War the advent of the motorboat and the auto
mobile put an end to sculling as a diversion in Poughkeepsie.
Service clubs include Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions and Exchange Clubs and a
Chamber of Commerce. Notable among the service clubs is the Women's
City and County Club, at 112 Market Street, the former residence of the
late Laura Wyley, for many years professor of English at Vassar College,
and a leader in local civic affairs. The Club has a county-wide membership
of 300. The social clubs include the Amrita Club, Market and Church
Streets, organized in 1873, and has a present membership of 250; and the
Germania Singing Society, with a membership of 370, occupying Germania
Hall, 197 Church Street, organized in 1850.
History
The Indian original of the name Poughkeepsie, mentioned in early docu
ments with a great variety of spellings, has been the subject of much re
search and century-old disagreement among historians. Throughout the last
century it was popularly supposed to be Apokeepring, translated as "safe
harbor" and referring either to the little cove at the mouth of the Fallkill
or to the broad indentation which originally extended from the Slange
Klip to Kaal Rock. However, Pooghkeepsingh, translated as "where the
water falls over" and applied to the falls of the Fallkill, later came into
favor. Extensive research in recent years by Miss Helen Wilkinson Rey
nolds, with the assistance of the Heye Foundation of New York, has, how
ever, established the Rust Plaets, a small marsh opposite the Rural Ceme
tery, as being the uppugh ipis ing or "reed-covered lodge by the little water
place," to which enough early documents refer to place it beyond reasonable
doubt as the source of the modern name. The present spelling of Pough-
30
keepsie, despite the numerous haphazard renderings of the late seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries, has remained uniform since about 1760.
The first record of white settlement within the city limits is a deed of
1683 conveying land from an Indian, Massany, to two Dutchmen, Pieter
Lansing and Jan Smeedes. This property appears to have been centered
on the river front near either the Fallkill or the Casperkill, as the intent of
building a mill is mentioned in the deed. Overlapping grants and purchases,
delimited in the vague phraseology necessitated by an unsettled and only
half explored region, led to several territorial disputes.
Although the first settlers in Poughkeepsie, as elsewhere, clung to the
riverbanks, usually where a creek provided shelter and offered power for
gristmills, the location of the town center was determined chiefly by the
passage of the King's Highway from New York to Albany, authorized by the
legislature in 1703. The courthouse, a church, and a cluster of houses
were built about the intersection of the present Main and Market Streets,
which is still the business center.
The growth of Poughkeepsie in the first half of the eighteenth century ex
ceeded that of Dutchess County as a whole, but was none the less relatively
slow. The first census, 1714, numbered 170 persons, of whom 15 were slaves.
Except for a dozen French Huguenots and Englishmen, this population was
entirely Dutch, although all public records were regularly written in a
hybrid and phonetic English. The first courthouse, authorized in 1715
and again in 1717, was probably completed in 1720. In 1725 the Van den
Bogaerdt farmhouse on the site of the present Nelson House, was opened
as an inn. The first ferry was established between Barnegat (Camelot sta
tion) and Milton in 1740.
In 1716 the Reformed Dutch congregations w r ere organized in Pough
keepsie and Fishkill. The Poughkeepsie church was completed on the present
southeast corner of Main and Market Streets in 1723. For 40 years, how
ever, the English population was too small to attract even the occasional
services of a missionary of the Church of England, and it was not until 1766
that Christ Church was organized, the first church edifice being built on
the site of the present armory in 1774. The church glebe and glebe house
which are held jointly by the congregations of Poughkeepsie and Fishkill,
date from 1767.
Poughkeepsie was not involved in Revolutionary activities. No battles were
fought in this vicinity, and only two cannon balls are said to have struck
the town during the British invasion of the Hudson Valley. Two events,
however, are memorable. On March 25, 1775, the first American liberty
pole in Poughkeepsie was raised at the house of Col. John Bailey. More
over, of the 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress, two, the
Congress and the Montgomery, were built and launched here in 1776 at
Fox's Point, and sent to Kingston for rigging. However, these ships never
left the Hudson. In the fall of 1777, when the British advanced up the
Hudson and burned Kingston, both ships were sent out to defend the chain
across the river at Fort Montgomery, and were fired to prevent their falling
into the hands of the enemy.
31
In 1777, after the burning of Kingston and the subsequent withdrawal of
the British from the Hudson Valley, Poughkeepsie became the capital of the
State. Gov. George Clinton made his residence here, where it is prob
able he entertained both Washington and Lafayette, and where Kosciuszko
called on him to offer his services in the Revolution.
During the winter of 1778-9 a regiment of Continental troops was quar
tered here against the remonstrances of Clinton, who believed that the
supplies of food were inadequate for both soldiers and legislators.
Possibly the chief event in the history of the town was the ratification
here by the State of New York of the Constitution of the United States.
This event took place July 26, 1788, in the third courthouse. In 1784
the legislature began to hold its sessions in New York, although the State
officers appear to have remained in Poughkeepsie for some time longer.
Fifteen years later, in 1799, a resumption of the normal growth of the little
community, with its population of about 1,000, was marked by its incorpora
tion as a village.
Among eminent Poughkeepsians of this time was Chancellor James Kent,
who came here in 1781 to study law. Soon afterwards he married and es
tablished himself in what, by his own account, was a very charming cottage.
In the election of 1792, Kent was an advocate of Jay, and local partisanship
for Clinton was so strong that he moved, reluctantly, to New York. The
next year he was defeated for Congress by his brother-in-law, Theodorus
Bailey, also of Poughkeepsie. In his Memoirs Kent speaks of the "great
men who visited there (Poughkeepsie) . . . .Washington, Hamilton, Law
rence, Schuyler, Duer . . ." John Adams, in his Diary, mentions a brief visit
to Poughkeepsie.
Early in the nineteenth century the increased cultivation of the hinterland
and the establishment of local factories brought Poughkeepsie into considerable
prominence as a river port. From several busy landings eight large sloops
sailed weekly to New York, transporting Dutchess County grain to the
metropolis and bringing back supplies and settlers for the provinces. The
crooked roads leading down to the river, of which only Union Street now
remains unaltered, were often choked with teams waiting their turn to load
or unload.
In 1814 Poughkeepsie became the first steamboat terminal between New
York and Albany. The general introduction of steamboats about this time,
and towboats a decade later, which permitted passengers to ride out of
danger from exploding boilers, proved a further stimulation to the com
merce of Poughkeepsie; and the improved "team-boat" ferries, introduced
in the year 1819, gave the town an important position in the route of
westward migration. With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, however,
western competition caused a decline, continuous to the present time, in the
value of Dutchess County produce, and accordingly in the commercial im
portance of Poughkeepsie. Passage of the Hudson River Railroad in 1850
was a further blow to local shipping interests, because, while it opened the
New York market to Dutchess County dairying, it effectually ended the ex
port of local wheat.
32
To counteract these changes and hasten the inevitable transition from trans
portation and commerce to industry, the Poughkeepsie Improvement Party
was founded about 1830. Composed of prominent local business men, this
group was very influential in directing the activities of the town at large,
initiating industries, establishing schools, and even laying out whole streets
and sections of the town. Mansion Square Park, was sponsored by the Im
provement Party as a residential inducement. The Improvement Party went
out of existence with the panic of 1837.
The striking development of the 1830's, one the modern visitor would
scarcely guess, was the short-lived but intensive period of whaling. This in
dustry employed at one time seven ships, kept the docks above the Upper
Landing humming, and caused the erection of several of the fine water-front
mansions which industrial developments were later to mar or raze.
Another short-lived but interesting enterprise of the same period was
the attempt of the Poughkeepsie Silk Company to produce raw silk from
silk-worm cocoons on mulberry trees planted near the junction of Delafield
Street and the Albany Post Road. The company collapsed in the panic of
1837.
In the same decade Poughkeepsie acquired a reputation as an educational
center by the establishment here of more than a dozen private schools.
Best known were the Poughkeepsie Collegiate School, the Poughkeepsie
Female Academy, Mrs. Congdon's Seminary, and Miss Lydia Booth's Semin
ary. (See Vassar College, p. 54.) In 1836 the old Dutchess County Academy
moved into larger quarters in the building now occupied by the Old Ladies'
Home. This sudden efflorescence induced Harvey G. Eastman of St. Louis
to move here in 1859 for the purpose of founding the Eastman Business
College, which, after an enrollment at one time of 1,700 students, closed in
May 1933. Vassar College, the one institution of Poughkeepsie known
throughout the country, was founded in 1861.
In 1854, the year Poughkeepsie was granted a city charter, Henry Wheeler
Shaw, the "Josh Billings" of Yankee humor, took up his permanent residence
here. Although he established himself as an auctioneer, he began here his
career as a writer under the original nom-de-plume of Efrem Billings, which
he soon changed to its classic form. Most of his books were written in Pough
keepsie. He contributed to local newspapers, took an active interest in civic
affairs, and in 1858 was elected city alderman from the fourth ward.
The Civil War was ardently supported by Poughkeepsians who had
given Lincoln an overwhelming majority in the election of 1860. Com
pany E of the 30tH Regiment, the first company raised in the city, fought
at Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, and in other important battles.
The 150th Regiment, recruited from Poughkeepsie and the vicinity, was
in action at Gettysburg, where 7 of its men were killed and 22 wounded,
and was also with Sherman on the famous march to the sea.
After the assassination of President Lincoln, the train bearing his mar
tyred body passed through Poughkeepsie on its way to Illinois. Virtually
the whole population of the city assembled along the tracks to stand in awed
33
silence as it passed. Draped in black, with muffled wheels, it ran noise
lessly except for the tolling of the engine's bell, and was long remembered
as the "Ghost Train."
After the Civil War, Poughkeepsie entered a period of rapid industrial
expansion. Factories began to spread along the water front, transforming
its earlier character and substituting a multitude of warehouses, factories,
and docks for the ordered system of landings, roads, and residences which
had hitherto prevailed. Families of wealth and social position deserted the
lively and picturesque slopes west of the Post Road for the undeveloped
tracts to the southeast, entrenching themselves on the eminences of Academy
Street and spreading out over the Hooker Avenue section. In Poughkeepsie,
as elsewhere at this time, the "residential districts," newly created in costly
and complex structures of brick and frame along new, characterless streets,
established themselves in conscious opposition to the organic but unpredictable
development of older quarters. Of the same period are the various philan
thropic institutions, housed in the characteristic buildings of dull red brick,
to be found in the various sections of the present town.
Arlington
Arlington is a vaguely defined suburb lying within the township of
Poughkeepsie, just east of the city. Its center is approximately the corner
of Main Street and Raymond Avenue. Its location adjacent to Vassar Col
lege has been the chief cause of its development. It is a village community
with small, frame houses, stores, two churches, and two schools. Many of
the residences are opened to guests of the college on weekends and gala
occasions. Shops catering to college tastes line College View Avenue and tHe
east side of Raymond Avenue. On the west, near the Main Street corner,
a large modern garage stands as a monument to the march of time its
proprietor the owner of stables which for many years have furnished saddle
horses for Vassar students.
In Revolutionary times the Arlington section was known as Bull's Head,
a name derived from that of a local tavern. Tory and Indian raids on the
other side of the Hudson are said to have caused many families to settle here.
John Holt, official State printer, appears to have lived here after his escape
from New York in 1776.
Among the earliest settlers were Bernardus and Johannes Swartwout,
the latter of whom had a mill on the Casperkill, the small stream which
is now dammed to form Vassar Lake. The same Johannes Swartwout may
well have been the father of Capt. Abraham Swartwout of Poughkeepsie,
who gave his blue cloak to make part of the first American flag used in
battle in the defense of Fort Schuyler in 1777.
In 1872, the name Bull's Head was condemned as undignified and re
placed by the name East Poughkeepsie, and about 1900 changed again to the
present name of Arlington.
34
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
POUGHKEEPSIE
FOOT TOUR NO. 1
1.4 MILES
START OF TOUR
I MONTGOMERY
FOOT TOUR 1 (1.4 m.)
1. The DUTCHESS COUNTY COURT HOUSE stands at the busi
ness center of Poughkeepsie, at the intersection of Market St. (the Post
Road) and Main St. It is a three-story-and-attic structure of red brick with
gray sandstone trim. A mansard roof of red tile is softened by a balustrade
crown. The interior walls and staircases are lined with white marble in the
typical courthouse manner. Built in 1902, it stands on the site of four former
courthouses, the first of which, erected before 1721, was the original Dut-
chess county Court House authorizen by the 16th Colonial Assembly
in 1715 and 1717. The second and considerably larger structure, authorized
in 1743, when the first had fallen into hopeless disrepair, became the tem
porary State Capitol after the burning of Kingston ; this historical edifice was
destroyed by fire in 1785. A third courthouse was in use by the end of 1787,
and in it, on July 26 of the following year, the State of New York, after
bitter and prolonged debate, ratified the Constitution of the United States.
(See p. 14.) This building fell prey to fire in 1806, and was followed in
1809 by a fourth and still larger courthouse, which stood until razed to
make way for the present structure.
From the Market St. intersection, W . on Main St.
2. The CITY HALL (L), at Main and Washington Streets, a modest
gray-painted brick building of the Greek Revival type, is the only civic
structure in Poughkeepsie of much architectural interest. Built in 1831, it
was intended to serve as the village hall and market. The market and fish-
stalls which occupied the ground floor were discontinued shortly before the
Civil War, and the whole interior altered. In 1865 the ground floor was
reconstructed to serve as a temporary post office, and the Common Council
met in the northwest room of the second floor. Part of the second floor was
used for some time as a classroom of the Eastman Business College. The
police station and city court in the rear were added after the Civil War.
R. from Main St. on Washington St., L. on Lafayette PL, L. on Vassar St.
3. The VASSAR BROTHERS INSTITUTE (R), Vassar Street and
Lafayette Place (open daily 1-5; admission free), houses a museum of natural
history, a natural science and historical library, and an auditorium.
Fauna, Indian relics, and fossils collected locally are exhibited. On the
first floor is a large and interesting group of insects. In the auditorium a
series of travelogues and lectures on geography are given during the winter,
usually on Tuesday evenings. The second floor has a large arrangement of
animals, butterflies, and birds in their natural habitat, Indian artifacts, and
fossils of the Hudson Valley.
The red brick building is constructed in a style which might, for local
purposes, be called Vassar architecture of the Civil War period, since all
the institutions donated by the Vassars are built in the same style. This
building was erected in 1881 on the site of the old Vassar brewery by the
brothers, John Guy, and Matthew Vassar, Jr., to promote knowledge of
science, literature, and art.
36
4. The VASSAR BROTHERS HOME FOR AGED MEN (L),
Main and Vassar Streets, stands on the site of the home of Matthew Vassar,
founder of Vassar College. Established in 1880 by John, Guy, and Matthew
Vassar, Jr., the institution is equipped to care for 21 elderly men. To be ad
mitted, an applicant must be of good character, a resident of Poughkeepsie for
five years, at least 65 years old, and of Protestant faith. An admission fee and
the transference of all personal property to the home are further conditions.
Matthew Vassar, one of the two sons of James and Anne (Bennett)
Vassar, was born April 29, 1792 in East Tuddingham, England. In 1796
James Vassar with his family migrated to America, settled in Poughkeepsie,
and entered business as a brewer. Matthew Vassar followed his father in
the business, and in 1813 married Catherine Valentine, who died in 1863
leaving no children. Matthew Vassar died in 1868, seven years after he
had founded Vassar College. (See Vassar College, p. 54.) Following his
example, his nephews, Matthew Jr., and John Guy, sons of his brother
Thomas, became prominent in the community, founding and endowing a
number of institutions in Poughkeepsie, and making further gifts to
Vassar College.
L. from Vassar Street on Main Street, R. on Washington Street^ L.
on Union Street.
5. SMITH BROTHERS RESTAURANT, 13 Market Street, oppo
site Union Street, a landmark in epicurean circles, is unique in that its early
development fostered the candy enterprise which later became the widely
known cough drop business now conducted by Smith Brothers, Incorporated,
at North Hamilton Street. The spacious dining room, with its great
mirrors and portraits of the Smith brothers, "Trade" and "Mark," pre
serves an atmosphere of substantial dignity.
The establishment grew from a small restaurant started by James Smith,
a Scotch-Canadian who came to Poughkeepsie in 1847. At his death, his
sons, James, Jr., and Andrew, inherited the business. In 1876 William W.
Smith succeeded James Jr., and his descendants still own it. The restaurant
has always been conducted under a policy of strict temperance.
6. The NELSON HOUSE, 28 Market Street, is the oldest hotel in
Poughkeepsie. Since 1777, under various names and owners, an inn has been
uninterruptedly maintained on this site, and before the Revolution the Van
den Bogaerdt farmhouse, which stood here, was used as an inn from 1725
to 1742.
During the years when Poughkeepsie was capital of the State (177ST-
83), most of the State and local officials made their headquarters in the inn
opened here in 1777 by Stephen Hendrikson. Governor Clinton paid Hen-
drikson for a room used by the State Council of Revision in 1778.
The famous British spy, Huddlestone, after being captured at Yonkers
in 1780, was brought to Poughkeepsie and hanged on Forbus Hill, behind
the inn. The chief use of this hill in Revolutionary times, however, was as
a vantage point for lookouts for river sloops, to ensure travelers' connections
from the inn.
37
Hendrickson's Inn, having been enlarged from one and one-half to three
stories in 1813, and, as the Forbus Hotel, to four in 1844, was torn down
in 1875, and a new one, now the central part of the Nelson House, built.
The following year it was renamed in honor of Judge Nelson, a former
owner of the property.
Another famous hostelry, which served from 1886 to 1917 as an annex
of the Nelson House, was the old Poughkeepsie Hotel. Lafayette, Henry
Clay, Aaron Burr, Martin Van Buren, and many other distinguished men
had been among its guests. It stood on Main Street, at the point where New
Market Street now crosses. It was razed in 1917 to make way for the
street.
7. The ADRIANCE MEMORIAL LIBRARY, Market Street be
tween Noxon and Montgomery Streets, is a handsome, white, marble-faced
building in French Renaissance style. It contains 85,000 volumes, the num
ber being normally increased annually by about 1,500. Included in the
library are noteworthy collections on local history.
The building, designed by Charles F. Rose of Poughkeepsie and erected
in 1898, was a gift to the city from six children of John P. and Marv
Adriance as a memorial to their parents. Market Street continues as a right
fork at Soldiers' Monument.
L. from Market St. on Montgomery St.
8. EASTMAN PARK, an 11 -acre recreational area, is entered at South
Avenue (Post Road) and Montgomery Street. Its chief feature is the baseball
diamond on which games of the twilight leagues and county championships
are played. A field is flooded in winter for ice skating. There are two tennis
courts.
Purchased in 1865 by Harvey G. Eastman, the low-lying marshy land
was drained and developed as a private estate. In 1867, with a display of
Chinese lanterns and fireworks, and an address by Horace Greeley on tem
perance, the park was formally opened to the public. Forty-two years later
it became city property by gift of C. C. Gaines, who had married Mr.
Eastman's widow.
The old Eastman mansion on Montgomery Street, near the entrance, is
now used as the office building of the Poughkeepsie Board of Public Works.
9. The SOLDIERS' MONUMENT (L), opposite the main entrance
of Eastman Park, an ornately figured fountain, was unveiled July 4, 1870,
with a parade and a balloon ascension in the park, in honor of the soldiers
of the Civil War.
10. CHRIST CHURCH (Episcopal) comprises a striking group of
English Gothic edifices of red sandstone standing in well-shaded landscaped
grounds facing Academy Street to the right of its intersection with Mont
gomery Street. The church building was erected in 1888 and the tower added
in 1889. The Tudor rectory was built in 1903. Christ Church was estab
lished in 1766, and the first church building was erected in 1774 on the site
of the present armory at Church and Market Streets.
L. from Montgomery St. on Academy St.
38
11. The site of the DUTCHESS COUNTY ACADEMY, (L),
the first academy in the county and the first secondary school in Poughkeepsie,
is at the southwest corner of Cannon and Academy Streets. Founded in
Fishkill in 1769, the school was transferred to Poughkeepsie together with
its original building, in 1791. Academy Street was named for the School.
Although charging for tuition, the academy was partly supported by
taxation and was under a Board of Regents. Its first principal was Rev.
Cornelius Brower, pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1836 the
large brick bilding at Montgomery and South Hamilton Streets, now owned
by the Old Ladies' Home (see p. 50), was erected for the academy which con
tinued there until 1866.
L. from Academy St. on Cannon St.
12. The building of the WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE
UNION, Cannon Street, erected in 1836, housed for 50 years the Pough
keepsie Female Academy. With its immense white columns, it is a grandiose
example of the Greek Revival period of architecture. The academy remained
one of the best known of Poughkeepsie's many schools until it closed in
1886. In 1889 the building was purchased by the W. C. T. U., largely
through the aid of William W. Smith.
L. from Cannon St. on Market St., to Court House.
MOTOR TOUR1 (3m.)
The Waterfront
The waterfront includes the industrialized and now partly-abandoned
region lying riverward from the tracks of the New York Central Railroad,
bounded by the extensive enclosures of the city's two largest industries, the
Dutton Lumber Company on the north, and the DeLaval Separator Com
pany on the south. The whole scene is dominated by the river, with its two
great bridges and its miscellaneous shipping, and by the two important rail
road arteries which intersect here. The four river landings of the 18th
century village are still accessible as, with some restrictions, are the docks
and wharves of the modern city. This region was the site of the first settle
ment, and has remained the seat of the chief activities of the city throughout
its history. On the river bluffs, almost squeezed out by encroaching indus
trial plants in all stages of repair, stand the once imposing dwellings of an
earlier day, while behind them on the irregular streets are grouped hap
hazardly the frame houses and brick tenements of more recent times. Besides
the many fine views of the river obtainable here, and the concentrated local
history, the Poughkeepsie waterfront is unusually interesting for its contrasts
and for the picturesqueness of its subtle compositions and colors.
From Courthouse, Main and Market Sts., N. on New Market St. to
Mill St., L. on Mill St. to North Perry St. Park car on Mill St. and
walk (R) 100 feet up Charles St.
13. The ARNOLD COTTON MILL (visitors welcome), built in
1811, still stands in tolerable repair on the Keating lumberyard on
39
Charles Street. The old mill, built of field stone, is now the lower part of
the central section of the main building. The waterwheel has been removed,
and the course of the Fallkill, which powered it, gradually diverted to the
north. The original cross timbers of oak and the one-piece oaken window
frames remain. Cotton fabrics were manufactured here during the War
of 1812, when the cessation of American coastwise trade necessitated the
carting of raw cotton in wagonloads from Georgia. The mill failed because
of the flood of imported goods consequent upon the peace treaty in 1815.
Return to car. At Dongan Monument Mill St. bears (R), and at
next traffic light, (L).
14. The yellow walls of SAINT PETER'S CHURCH (R) AND
SCHOOL (L), foot of Mill Street, stand amid tumbledown environs on a
bluff above the tracks of the New York Central Railroad. This was the
first Roman Catholic church in Dutchess County. The original structure,
dating from 1837, faced west overlooking the river, and has been retained
as the transept of the present church, erected in 1853, with additions made
later. Of painted brick in a Renaissance style, this is one of the most strik
ingly situated of the city's buildings. A fine view of the railroad bridge, ris
ing above power plant and gas tanks, extends to include the Mid-Hudson
Bridge (L) outlined gracefully against the Highlands.
L. from Mill St. on Dutchess Ave.
As the road curves right beneath Saint Peter's and turns left into Dutchess
Avenue, an impressive prospect of industrial structures opens to view. Along
Dutchess Avenue, one of the oldest streets in the city, a number of pictur
esque old frame and brick houses are passed.
Across the railroad overpass, the route turns sharp (L) into North
Water St.
The route here enters the water front proper, where dwellings have almost
disappeared before the demands of commerce and manufacture.
15. The route proceeds left, but a right turn on North Water Street,
into the short dead end of Hoffman Street, affords the best view of the
docks and yards of the BUTTON LUMBER COMPANY, largest of
their kind in the eastern United States. The company is an important
distributor of domestic and foreign lumber. Ocean-going ships, huge
cranes, and stacks of lumber spread along the half mile of water
frontage, create maritime impressions rare at such a distance from the
sea. These yards play a major part in the American building industry:
vessels of all draughts ply here from the West Coast, Norway, and the
U. S. S. R. And the sense of activity and the color of the scene are en
hanced by the immediate presence of the busy railroad tracks and sidings.
As the route proceeds south along North Water Street, extremely slow
driving will be repaid by views of a complex and vivid scene bridge and
gas tanks on the right, and left, across the tracks, the string of colorful
houses along Dutchess Avenue, the desolate slope with its automobile grave
yard, and beyond, Saint Peter's Church crowning the background.
(R) from North Water St. on Dutchess Ave.
16. The DUTCHESS AVENUE DOCK, a public landing, adjoins the
long wharves of the Dutton Lumber Company. The scene from this point,
40
Dutch House, known as "Old Hundred," MM? Hackensack
Reformed Dutch Church at New Hackensack
Poughkeepsie Railroad
Bridge from the Water
front
Interior Woodwork of the
Lcii'is DuBois House,
Grays Riding A cade my
doubtless one of the finest in Poughkeepsie, includes a splendi'd vista of the
broad, busy river bounded by the smoke-plumed trains of the West Shore
Railroad, behind which the horizon rises abruptly with the Highlands. Mile
long freight trains cross the lofty bridges overhead in silhouette against the
sky.
The Dutchess Avenue Dock had a brief but intense period of activity in
the 1830's, when, at the height of the great American whaling industry, the
Poughkeepsie Whaling Company was established here. This company was
followed by a larger enterprise, the Dutchess Whaling Company, which
maintained a fleet of seven ships, one of them, the New England, mentioned
in Dana's Two Years before the Mast. The romantic calling was abandoned
in 1844.
Back track to North Water St.; R. (S) on North Water St.
North Water Street continues a short distance between the railroad tracks
(L) and the Slange Klip (Dutch, snake cliff) (R), crowned since 1894 by
the power plant of the Central Hudson Gas and Electric Co., and then dips
quickly to the historic Fallkill Creek, which empties at this point into the
Hudson.
Pass under the Railroad Bridge.
17. The RAILROAD BRIDGE, by reason of which Poughkeepsie was
long known as the "Bridge City of the Hudson," is part of the New York,
New Haven & Hartford Railroad system. Begun in 1873, it was at the
time a notable engineering achievement. The width of the river at this point
is 2,608 feet, and the length of the bridge 3,094 feet. The roadbed is 214
feet above water level. Six masonry piers support the steel towers that carry
the cantilever trusses of the river spans.
The erection of the bridge was the culmination of a quarter century of
railroad construction linking Poughkeepsie with the four points of the com
pass. Promotion of the great enterprise was chiefly the work of Harvey G.
Eastman, founder of the business college, and John I. Platt, editor of the
Poughkeepsie Eagle, who conceived its possibilities as a link between the coal
fields of Pennsylvania and the manufacturing cities of New England. A
company was formed and incorporated under authority of a special act of
Congress dated May 11, 1871. John F. Winslow, partowner of the first
patent on the Bessemer steel process and the chief financial backer of Erics
son when the first Monitor was built, became president of the corporation.
The act provided for a suspension bridge, but this, after thorough considera
tion, was judged impracticable because of the long span. In the face of strong
opposition from the river-towing interests, Eastman succeeded in getting a
bill passed authorizing the erection of piers in the river.
At this time the Pennsylvania Railroad, looking for an eastern connection,
subscribed $1,100,000 of the total $2,000,000 required. Subsequent repudia
tion, caused by the panic of 73 and the death of the president of the road,
resulted in delay. In 1876 the American Bridge Company of Chicago,
accepted the contract, and built three timber caissons and one stone pier
on the west shore. An accident to this pier proved so expensive that it ruined
the company.
41
A Manhattan bridge company was subsequently organized to carry on the
project, and the construction was sublet to the Union Bridge Company of
New York City. The success of the cantilever bridge which this company
had already built at Niagara Falls suggested the combined cantilever and
deck-truss construction; Arthur B. Paine was general supervisor. On August
29, 1888, the last pin was driven in the cantilever span between Pier 5 and
the east shore. The approaches were finished a few months later, and the first
train crossed the bridge on December 29, 1888.
In 1904 the bridge and the lines connected with it came under the control
of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Three years later
it was found necessary to make repairs and reconstruction at a cost of
$1, 500,000. Since its period of greater activity, during the decade before the
World War, traffic over the bridge has registered a gradual decline. It is
now used for freight only.
18. Directly north of the Fallkill, within the enclosure of the gas and
electric company, stands the old, neatly painted stone and brick HOFF
MAN HOUSE, which was bought by three Hoffman brothers from Col.
R. L. Livingston in 1800. In its stone foundation and walls something may
remain of the house of Col. Leonard Lewis, built in 1717. The interior
has been completely altered.
19. Within the same enclosure, a few feet left, stands the OAKLEY
MILL, a plain, gray-painted three-story building, a typical sturdy millhouse,
built in 1810 by George P. Oakley. It is now used as a garage.
From the little bridge that spans the Fallkill (Dutch, Val Kil, stream of
falls), there may be seen two of the conflicting sources from which the name
Poughkeepsie has been traditionally derived. On the right, the mouth of the
creek, which is said originally to have had three times its present flow, once
afforded enough shelter to Indian canoes for the place to be named Apokeeps-
ing, or "safe harbor"; on the left is the FALLS, called by the Indians
Pooghkeepslngh. The old course of the stream has been diverted to the north
by a factory building.
20. The mouth of the Fallkill (R) is the site of the old UPPER
LANDING, at one time the busiest on the water front. This was the ferry
dock from 1798, when the first regular service was introduced, until 1879.
(From 1740 until the end of the century ferries also ran occasionally from
Barnegat, 4 miles south of Poughkeepsie, to Milton). The first regular ferry,
which plied from the Upper Landing to New Paltz, was a barge propelled
by sail and oars in the hands of slaves. In 1819 a team-boat was introduced,
which was propelled by four horses in a treadmill, making the crossing in
10 minutes. Strongly built and easily operated, the team-boat was considered
a great advance over the earlier ferries. A lively expectation that it would
prove commercially important to the town as a link in the route of the
contemporary migration westward reached its peak in 1825 when an un
fruitful movement was started to make New Paltz Landing the terminus of
a great State highway to Buffalo.
The place became known as the Upper Landing about 1800, when it had
42
become a center of freighting and manufacturing. For a score of years,
sloops carrying freight and passengers sailed daily to New York. Barges,
towed by steamboats, replaced the sloops in 1821, and in 1837 regular steamer
service was introduced. Falling gradually into disuse through the mid-century,
the landing became inactive after 1879.
The old mills gathered about the falls were razed by the New York
Central Railroad to make way for its tracks, and the storehouses near the
old landing followed in 1894 when the power plant was built on the site.
21. Just past the Fallkill are the huge brick buildings and yards of the
ARNOLD LUMBER COMPANY (R), established in 1821, the only
survivor of the many early industries of the Upper Landing.
22. The ARNOLD HOMESTEAD (L), 58 North Water Street, a
weather-beaten frame house with central gable, was built about 1840 during
the whaling boom. It rests on a terrace hemmed in by a brick retaining wall
which is patched with stone where the stairway once descended.
23. Directly beyond, the yellow clapboard OAKLEY HOUSE (R),
rooted on a bluff against the irresistible encroachment of industry, was
built in 1807. Oakley was a local politician and businessman, best known
as the chief promoter of lotteries in Dutchess County. The main entrance,
with its original door frame to which a two-story porch has been added,
now faces the north. Originally it was part of the western facade overlooking
the river. This and the Arnold homestead, across the street, with all their
dilapidation, still retain traces of their past splendor.
North Water Street continues between the railroad tracks and a vacant
space which was once the site of the Matthew Vassar brewery. The approach
to Main Street is of little interest except for occasional views of the Mid-
Hudson Bridge.
R. from North Water St. on Main St.
24. The POUGHKEEPSIE-HIGHLAND FERRY, foot of Main St.
on the river front. (Two alternate ferries operate on half hour schedule.
Rates: car, driver, and one passenger, 40 c; additional passengers ', We; chil
dren 5c.)
25. MAIN STREET LANDING, foot of Main St. adjacent to the
ferry slip on river front, is the only one of the four 18th century landings
continuing in active use. Although noted under the name Caul (Kaal)
Rock Landing on maps as early as 1744, it did not become important until
1811, when sloops were already sailing to New York from all the other
Poughkeepsie landings. The landing proper is the chief public dock of the
city. Adjoining it are the ferry slip and the dock of the Hudson River Day
Line (R), and the office of the Central Hudson Steamboat Company (L).
The last named occupies the old Exchange House built in 1834 and con
spicuous for its rounded shingles.
Backtrack on Main St. (a short block) to Front St.; R. on Front St.
26. The new MID-HUDSON BRIDGE (tolls: passenger automobile,
including driver, 80 c; extra passengers, each 10 c; maximum fare, $1.00;
trailer on passenger automobile, 20c; motorcycle with side car, 35c; children,
43
seven years and younger, free. Book tickets at reduced rates) unites the east
and west banks of the Hudson River at a point midway between New York
City and Albany. The eastern approach is from Church and Union Sts.
Immediately west of the bridge the highway spreads to form a Y. Its northern
branch connects with Highland and the southern with US 9W on the west
bank of the river.
The official permit for the building of the bridge was granted June 6,
1924, and the structure was formally opened in August, 1930. It was de
signed by Ralph Modjeski and Daniel E. Moran; the steel superstructure
was erected by the American Bridge Company of New York City. The
bridge is of the long suspension type, with the two river piers 1,500 ft. apart;
each side span is exactly one-half the length of the center span; the entire
length of the bridge is 4,530 ft. The west approach is by a highway \ l /2
miles long. The cables are suspended on steel towers rising 280 ft. above
the piers, and surmounting these are large oval lights, the rays of which are
visible for many miles. The design of the towers produces an impression
of strength as well as of grace and beauty of line.
The river piers supporting the two steel towers are massive concrete
columns faced with granite to a point 35 ft. below water level. The bridge
has a 30-ft. roadway and a 4-ft. sidewalk on either side. The bridge floor is of
concrete slabs with expansion joints.
27. KAAL ROCK (R), Front St. (Park car just S. of bridge
and R. of highway and walk 150 ft. (R) to top of rock.)
Both this bluff on which the Mid-Hudson Bridge rests, and the one a little
north of it, are known as Kaal (older Caul) Rock (pr. call; Dutch , Kaele
Rughj bare back.) An erroneous tradition has it that passing ships were
signalled or "called" from this eminence, and that the name was thus at
tached to it. In any case, one may well wonder in what way it is a rock at
all, until considering the actual Dutch name "bare back," which describes
the precipitous and naked fall to the river, and realizing that the present
English name is merely a case of false etymology. In 1824 the visit of
Lafayette to Poughkeepsie was celebrated with a great bonfire on Kaal
Rock and salvos of artillery.
This, the highest point on the w r aterfront, affords a sweeping view of
that part of the Hudson known to early Dutch settlers as the Lange Rak,
or Long Reach, a straight sailing course of about 11 miles between Crum
Elbow (see Hyde Park, p. 89) and a flat promontory called the Dannam-
mer, on the west bank opposite the mouth of Wappinger Creek.
28. The UNION LANDING, a dead end at the foot of old, winding
Union St. (right fork), was for 47 years after the Revolution the chief
shipping point of Dutchess County wheat and other produce. In 1831 a
steamboat still carried freight and passengers daily from this landing to New
York, but soon afterwards it was entirely superseded by the Main Street
and Upper Landings. The sequestered dock shows nothing of its old im
portance and activity.
In the hollow of Kaal Rock is a cluster of gasoline tanks, beyond which
44
the rock juts forth again, supporting the square, gray building of the old
brewery. Here again is a close-up view of the strong, graceful suspension
bridge and the cantilever trusses of the railroad bridge.
The Poughkeepsie Yacht Club, tucked in at the south end of the old
landing, is officially designated as the half-way point in the annual speed
boat races from Albany to New York.
Backtrack on Union St. to South Water St.
29. The GREGORY HOUSE (L), Union and South Water Sts., built
in 1841, is stranded stepless on its high bare basement in the wired enclosure
of a factory. Long abandoned, the weatherbeaten brick house designed in the
Greek Revival style consists of a receding two-story center fronted by a
Doric-columned portico and flanked by one-story wings. The fine doorway
still bears the street number. The interior has been altered to serve as a
factory warehouse.
R. (S) on South Water St.
30. The route passes through the deep shadow of the grim, deserted red
brick factory buildings (R. and L.) formerly occupied by the MOLINE
PLOW COMPANY, well known as manufacturers of harvesting ma
chinery. Inactive since 1922, it was at one time Poughkeepsie's largest in
dustry.
31. The old SOUTHWICK HOUSE (R), South Water St., just be
yond the Moline factory, stands among trees in one of the few early 19th cen
tury gardens remaining in Poughkeepsie. The large yellow frame house with
its gambrel roof was built in 1804 or 1805 by John Winans. In 1807 he sold
it to Zadock Southwick, an early tanner and builder of the first Hudson
River ice-boat. The Southwick family still lives in it. The garden remains
substantially as it was laid out by Zadock Southwick. In it is a thorn-locust
tree more than 14 feet in circumference.
A short dead-end road (R) around the Southwick house leads to the old
Southwick Landing. Here is an excellent view of the southern half of the
Long Reach and of the two bridges to the north.
32. The DELAVAL SEPARATOR COMPANY (R) (visitors wel
come), at the end of South Water St. on the site of the LOWER LAND
ING, is the largest Poughkeepsie manufacturing establishment. The main
product is the centrifugal separator used by dairy and oil industries.
The DeLaval property includes the sites of the old Henry Livingston
estate of the 18th century and of FOX'S POINT SHIPYARD, where the
Revolutionary frigates were built. (See p. 31.)
Sharp L. from South Water St. on Pine St.
Pine Street leads through a long underpass to the intersection with Tulip
Street (L) and Prospect Street (R). The tour here leaves the water
front proper, although Prospect Street for almost a mile skirts the river
behind long areas of factories and warehouses.
A pleasant route back to the Court House is by Tulip and Union Streets.
The latter winds from the Court House down to the Union Landing. Laid
out in 1767, it penetrates the heart of the old and picturesque south side
of the city.
45
33. LINCOLN CENTER, Lincoln Ave. and Pine St., a stark yellow
frame structure standing on a low bluff in a small recreational park west
of Eastman Park, is the settlement house of Poughkeepsie. It provides recre
ational guidance and facilities to the underprivileged children of this crowded
district.
The first floor of the building contains a gymnasium, a playroom for
babies, and a child welfare clinic. On the homelike and friendly second floor
are a dining room and kitchen for the use of members, a game room, a small
club room and a larger recreational room, and a radio room, for the use of
young people unable to entertain at home. On this floor are displays of the
handicrafts of members. A small club room and a pool room are on the third
floor.
In 1936 the Mayor and Board of Aldermen authorized a WPA project
for a gymnasium for boys which wiil leave the original house for girls' and
children's activities. Other renovations and repairs have been financed by
the TERA and the WPA.
The center is open to all residents of the city, children or adults, with no
discrimination as to race, creed, or color.
Lincoln Center was started by Vassar students in 1917 as a play group
for children. A house rented on Church Street provided space for handi
crafts, games for little children, and gymnasium work for older boys, to
gether with quarters for a city health nurse. In the influenza epidemic of
1918 it was the only social agency in the district prepared to meet the needs
of the sufferers and report cases to the Board of Health.
In 1925 the old Riverview Academy building, a city-owned structure, was
assigned by the common council to Lincoln Center for an indefinite period,
with the provision that part of it be reserved for use as a city clinic. The
reconditioning of the large frame building, which had been abandoned for
10 years, was accomplished by voluntary labor supplied by the unions of
Poughkeepsie. Neighboring families assisted in cleaning the grounds.
Three paid workers, aided by various Poughkeepsians and by 60 Vassar
students under weekly assignments, direct the activities of the 1,100 mem
bers. The older boys and girls are trained to assist the younger groups.
A striking instance of the effectiveness of Lincoln Center is shown in the
reduction of juvenile delinquency in the district, which formerly had the
highest percentage in the city and now has the second lowest, standing next
to the privileged area. This is believed to have resulted entirely from the
introduction of these recreational facilities.
L. from Pine St. on Market to Court House (end of tour).
MOTOR TOUR 2 (5.5 m.)
From Court House, Main and Market Sts., E. on Main St., L. on N.
Clinton St.
34. Largest and by far the best known of the parks of Poughkeepsie is
the COLLEGE HILL PARK, with main entrance on North Clinton Street,
a finely landscaped area on the highest eminence of the city (375) ft.), offer-
46
ing unsurpassed views of the city and the surrounding country in a complete
panorama bounded by the Highlands, the Catskills, and the Berkshires.
Facilities for public amusement include a nine-hole golf course, open
daily from 7 a. m. to 8:30 p. m. on the northeastern slope of the hill. The
course is kept in excellent condition for play. A tennis court adjoins North
Clinton Street Picnic grounds, with tables and fireplaces, overlooking city and
river on the west slope.
The drive up the hill offers a succession of expanding views. Below, to
the southeast, lies Poughkeepsie spreading around to Arlington on the east
with the Gothic turrets of Vassar College just visible in the southeastern
distance. East and north, the broad plains and hills of Dutchess County
extend to the distant Berkshires and Taconics, visible on clear days, which
form the natural divide between New York and New England. The giant
Catskills are banked in huge masses 40 miles to the northwest. On the south
stands high Mount Beacon, its inclined railway and casino visible on clear
days, from which the long Fishkill or Breakneck Range runs easterly along
the southern horizon.
At the summit of the hill stands a STONE SOLARIUM of conventional
Greek Doric design, a monument to Guilford Dudley, a local financier, who
left a bequest to be used for the erection of a shelter at this spot. Additional
funds were provided by the TERA and WPA. The architect was John
P. Draney, of Poughkeepsie, and the work was completed in 1936.
The solarium stands on the site of the famous colonnaded building, an
imitation of the Parthenon, which for 30 years housed the Poughkeepsie
Collegiate School. This school in 1866 was renamed the Riverview Military
Academy, military instruction having been instituted four years previously,
and in 1867 was transferred from College Hill to a new site on Lincoln
Avenue (See Lincoln Center). The hill itself had already been sold to
George Morgan in 1865 under the gavel of Josh Billings, auctioneer, (see
p. 33), and the building was reopened, though unsuccessful, as the Col
lege Hill Hotel. The subsequent plans of John Guy Vassar to estab
lish posthumously an orphan asylum on the site were frustrated by the in
validation of the relevant clauses of his will.
South of the monument, on a large pedestal, is a bust of William W.
Smith, cough-drop manufacturer, who in 1892 purchased the College Hill
property and gave it to the city.
Rock gardens and greenhouses, in which plants for all the city parks are
raised, lie on the slope east of the solarium. The most noteworthy display is of
dahlias in August and September. Below the main greenhouse, the Clarence
Lown Memorial Rock Garden contains, besides many more or less rare
European plants, a bed at the base of which is calcareous tufa, in which
Alpine and rock garden plants flourish.
The open reservoir on the north slope of the hill was formerly the main
water supply of the city but now supplies only hydrants. A new reservoir,
higher on the slope, is concealed from view. Both draw their water from
the Hudson River.
47
L. from College Hill Park on North Clinton St., L. on Oakley St.
35. The FENNER HOUSE, Oakley St. (L), one and one-half story
Dutch Colonial homestead with gambrel roof and dormer windows, was
built by Thomas Fenner prior to 1815. Though the walls are weatherbeaten,
the house is well preserved; and the fine, simple lines of the Colonial style
still give it a real distinction.
R. from Oakley St. on Smith St., L. on Main St.
36. The CLEAR EVERITT HOUSE (L), White and Main Sts.
(open weekdays, 10 a. m.-12 m. and 3-5 p. m., admission free), a historic
house-museum under the direction of the Daughters of the American Revolu
tion, has been popularly believed to have been the residence of Gov. George
Clinton from 1778 to 1783. Research by members of the Daughters of the
American Revolution has failed to confirm the tradition, but it is said that
original documents supporting it were destroyed by fire in Albany. Other
sources indicate 448 Main St. as the Clinton residence.
According to early records, for a number of years the Clear Everitt prop
erty belonged to Udny Hay, an officer in the Continental Army, and the
present house was built by him under remarkable circumstances. In 1780,
Hay resigned his post in the army and, with his wife, came to Poughkeepsie
as purchasing agent for the State of New York, buying at this time the Clear
Everitt property from Hugh Van Kleeck, who had inherited it from Clear
Everitt, his wife's father. A house then stood on it. Two years later this
house was destroyed by fire, and the Hays rented the Glebe House (see
below) while building a new one. Masons and carpenters being scarce during
the war, Hay wrote General Washington for permission to use workmen
from the army. This permission was granted and the present house was
accordingly erected. In the cellar of Hay's rebuilt house as it stands today
are huge hand-wrought beams, some of them charred ; it may reasonably be
assumed that these beams were saved from the original house built by Van
Kleeck and used again when the army workmen reconstructed the building.
A stone in the front wall marked "VK" doubtless also came from the older
house.
Although dating from 1783, the Clear Everitt House is externally in the
style of an earlier period. The attic section, like those of many early Dutchess
County houses, is constructed of wood; the foundations, 2 feet thick, are of
rough field stone, crudely laid, and held together with a mixture of clay
and gravel with a minimum of lime. The walls of the house are of the same
materials and workmanship as the foundations, though pointed up recently
on the outside ; and the typical Dutch doors are also suggestive of pre-
Revolutionary Dutchess County.
The first floor is divided by a broad central hall, with a dining room and
parlor on one side and a large reception room on the other. One of the four
rooms on the second floor is a museum-bedroom, which contains 18th century
furniture, including a canopied bed and two heavy armoires. The downstairs
rooms, though fitted out roughly as a museum, do not represent any attempt
at a reconstruction of the actual period scene. A number of original state
48
documents and papers with signatures of both Governors George and DeWitt
Clinton, pictures, Revolutionary relics and weapons, and 18th and 19th
century furniture, are exhibited in the various rooms. The furniture includes
Windsor, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, and Empire pieces, as well as two square
pianos of early American make. There is also a large collection of household
implements and dishes of Colonial days.
Probably the most notable piece in the collection is the south mantelpiece
in the large reception room, saved from the pre-Revolutionary house of
Henry Livingston (site of the present office of the Phoenix Horseshoe
Works) when it was torn down in 1910. Slender double columns, narrower
at their bases than at their tops, ornament each side of the mantel, and
Greek urn designs are carved in the cornice board. The north mantel in
this room, as indicated by the pineapple carvings, is probably from about 1800.
The mantel in the east reception room is said to date from 1812, and that
in the dining room has the oakleaf and acorn carving typical of American
furniture of the period of 1790 to 1815.
The Mahwenawasigh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolu
tion, chartered in 1894, obtained possession of the house in 1900 and trans
ferred it in the same year to the State of New York. The society has restored
and somewhat altered the exterior, installed and arranged the collection, and
maintains the museum.
37. The GLEBE HOUSE, 635 Main St. (admission free), built in
1767 as the rectory of the English Church, later Christ Church (see p. 38),
i probably the most charming house in Poughkeepsie. The simple story-and-
a-half structure of red brick in the usual Flemish bond reveals indoor room
and hall proportions that give an illusion of spaciousness common to the
houses of its period but later lost. Two fine, large, cheerful rooms flank a
broad central hall, well lighted by large window sashes with finely made
and inconspicuous wood mullions, each with its ample fireplace. The rear
room and the large square kitchen show an equal regard for space and
freedom. A Dutch oven in the kitchen lies in the large chimney above an
other Dutch oven and firehole in the cellar. Upstairs a four-room attic split
by a broad hall-landing presents a variety of floor levels and wall propor
tions due evidently to the numerous additions and remodellings to which
the house has been subjected.
Under the custody of the Dutchess County Historical Society and the
Junior League, much interior restoration has been carried out and the be
ginnings of a historical collection undertaken. Of the few pieces of furniture
at present in the carefully painted and papered rooms, the most important is
a large and very beautiful Hepplewhite sideboard. An equally beautiful hand
rail, strikingly suited to the gracious simplicity of the hall, though it dates
probably from about 1810, borders the stairs.
The exterior of the house, showing at close view many restorations, con
forms generally to the original. The lean-to in the rear and a small ex
tension on one side, both of frame, are evidently later additions. The re
cessed front door and its porch, of Colonial design, are part of a recent
restoration.
49
One of the oldest houses standing in the city, the Glebe house was built
on land of the English Church in 1767. Its first tenant, the Rev. John
Beardsley, was exiled 10 years later because of his Royalist leanings. For
a few years thereafter it was occupied by Revolutionary officers, and served
again as Christ Church rectory from 1787 to 1791. In 1796 Christ Church
sold the house, which, under various owners, remained a private residence
until 1929, when, by a popular subscription, it was purchased for the city.
Sharp R. from Main St. on Church St., R. on Market St. to Court House.
Additional Points of Interest
38. The OLD LADIES' HOME, Hamilton and Montgomery Sts.,
occupies the large colonnaded red brick building of the old Dutchess
County Academy. It is open to Protestants over 60, in good health, who
have lived in Poughkeepsie at least 5 years. The admission fee is $500, and
residents must transfer all their property to the Home.
The institution was founded in 1871, chiefly through the efforts of Miss
Alice M. Fowler. The building and a permanent endowment fund of
$20,000 were donated by Jonathan A. Warner. In 1897 the Home was
enlarged and the endowment fund increased by W. W. Smith.
The building was erected in 1836 to house the Dutchess County Academy
and was used by the Academy until its close in 1866. From 1866 until 1871
it was rented by the city for use as a public high school. Many of the orig
inal panes of glass, marked by the initials and scribblings of former Academy
pupils, remain in the windows.
39. SMITH BROTHERS, INC., 134 North Hamilton St. (visitors
welcome), are doubtless the best known cough drop manufacturers in the
country. The business was established before 1850 by William Wallace Smith
and Andrew Smith, the famous bearded "Trade" and "Mark." The two
well-known faces were actual representations from photographs. The cough
drops were first made in a basement by hand; now hand labor is eliminated,
and they are manufactured by the ton in this modern factory built in 1914.
40. The DIVISIONAL PRODUCE MARKET, Smith St. just south
of College Hill, a PWA project, providing a central distribution point for
local produce, occupies 2 acres of graded and paved land easily accessible to
all nearby State roads and adjacent to the Central New England Railroad.
It was completed in the winter of 1936-37 as an adjunct to the considerably
larger primary or regional PWA market in Newburgh.
41. The CITY HOME AND INFIRMARY occupies 32 acres of
ground at Maple St. and Jewett Ave. North and east of the tree-shaded build
ings in the style of the Civil War period lie 10 acres of cultivated fields
bounded by a rocky slope used as pasture land. The group of buildings, of vari
ous dates, constructed to provide a cheerful and comfortable atmosphere, com
prises the largest public institution of the city. The latest addition, com
pleted under the PWA in 1936, is the infirmary, which was carefully
planned to equal a modern private hospital in comfort and efficiency. The
capacity of the Home, exclusive of the infirmary, is 120.
50
The City Home was placed in 1930 under the supervision of the Board
of Public Welfare. From 1854 to 1900 the board which directed this work
was known as the "Almshouse Commissioners," and from 1900 to 1930 as
the "Board of Charities." In 1901 the old "Almshouse" became the "City
Home." The purpose of the institution, little changed during the years, has
been to care for people in temporary or chronic need, investigate cases of
poverty, place the mentally or physically ill where they may receive care, and
attend to transients. Since the enlargement of the infirmary, many cases of
non-contagious diseases formerly sent to local hospitals have been adequately
attended to in the Home.
42. The DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH, Hooker and Hanscom
Aves., was built in 1922. Of native stone, it is in a style known as English
Parish Gothic. The square tower appears to have been a tradition in the
Dutch church buildings in Poughkeepsie, of which the present church is the
fifth.
43. The PRINGLE MEMORIAL HOME, 153 Academy St., a three-
story, yellow clapboard frame building with wide, white verandas, was or
ganized in 1899 by Clarence Fenton as a home for "aged, indigent, literary
and professional gentlemen." Originally a private house, ft has nothing of the
appearance of an institution. The name was given in memory of Mr. Fen-
ton's aunt and uncle, who had left funds for the establishment of such an
asylum. Membership is limited to nine. Applicants are required to be be
tween the ages of 65 and 80 and in good health, and must pay an admis
sion fee of $1,000.
44. HOUSE OF TIMOTHY COLE, 39 Ferris Lane. In this tiny
gray stucco house with unusual rolling roof, Timothy Cole, world-renowned
wood-engraver, lived from 1917 until his death in 1931. Cole was born in
London, England, in 1852, and when 4 years old was brought to America
by his parents. He was educated in New York and Chicago, but was a self-
taught engraver. Developing his own technique, he became the great master
of the white-line engraving. In 1875 he became a member of the staff of the
Century Magazine, and was assigned by the publishers to make engravings
of the paintings of the great European masters. He is best known for these
reproductions, which have been published in book form with comments by
the engraver.
The type of art Cole represented was brought to an end by the introduction
of process engraving, but in the quality of his work, as in the delicacy and
softness of his medium, he remains unsurpassed.
45. The QUAKER MEETING HOUSE, Hooker Ave. and Whittier
PL, is a simple, square red brick structure set in a neat lawn, shaded by a
grove of Norway spruces. Designed by Alfred Bisselle of New York, it
was erected in 1927. The general style of the 18th century Quaker meeting
house has been followed, with its broad, harmonious proportions. The lines
of the building, the Flemish bond, white marble trim, and white shutters, with
the main architectural effect produced not by decoration but by proportion
and tone, all approximate the Georgian type. The buff and white interior is
neat and inviting.
51
Adjoining the meeting room on the left is a large Sunday school room,
separated by an adjustable partition which permits the whole to be con
verted into a single commodious auditorium when occasion requires. The
old practice of separating the sexes, usual in the prototypes of this meeting
house, has been abandoned, so that the meeting room, with its attractive
white pews and pulpit, is similar to the interiors of other churches.
The simple yard has been laid out with the same care apparent in the
construction of the building. Well groomed conifers shade the street front.
A low brick-and-marble terrace, before which stand two dainty Chinese
poplars, bounds the shrub-planted lawn at the entrance.
46. VASSAR BROTHERS HOSPITAL, Reade PL and Lincoln Ave.,
stands in 32 acres of pleasantly cultivated grounds overlooking the Hudson.
The red brick buildings are bordered by a limestone wall on the river
side. It was founded by Matthew Vassar, Jr., as Vassar Hospital; but, in
accordance with the provisions of his will, the name was changed when his
brother, John Guy Vassar, added an endowment. The hospital was incor
porated in 1882, and the main building erected in 1884. A library and
laboratory building was erected in 1899, and the hospital capacity was
nearly doubled by additions in 1907. The hospital maintains 225 beds and
the usual services, carried on by a staff of 38 attending surgeons and physi
cians.
47. The LANE BROTHERS HARDWARE COMPANY, near the
foot of Prospect St., was the third manufacturer of steam automobiles in
America. Following the expensive Stanley and White steamers of 1894-5,
the Lane machine, a lighter and cheaper model, appeared in 1900. Auto
mobile manufacturing started here as a result of the delay of the Stanley
Company in filling an order of William L. Lane, who, becoming impatient,
decided to make his own machine. In 1901 the Lane car was awarded a first
class certificate by the Automobile Club of America in the New York-
Buffalo endurance contest. With the increase of gasoline powered auto
mobiles, production of the Lane car was discontinued. The company, under
another management and under the name Lanebro, continues other manu
facturing in the same plant.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
48. The KIMLIN CIDER MILL, Cedar Ave., 1.3 m. from its inter
section with Hooker Ave. (open 10 a. m.-8 p. m. except Mondays; admission
free), a local show place with "atmosphere," is a favorite rendezvous of Vas
sar College students. It houses the largest miscellaneous exhibit of historical
and antiquarian collections in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie. Many of the
mounted birds and animals have been acquired from Vassar Brothers Institute.
(see above.) The innumerable antiques crowd the low-ceilinged rooms. Re
freshments are sold, with cider a specialty.
49. The POUGHKEEPSIE RURAL CEMETERY occupies about
150 acres of woodland between the Post Road and the Hudson River, 1.5
52
miles south of the Court House. Non-denominational, this is the only large
cemetery of Poughkeepsie. It was incorporated in 1853 and is privately
owned by a plot-owners' corporation.
Attractive plantings, a charming pond, the partly cleared oak woods, and
the magnificent views of river and city from the river bluff, more than com
pensate for the relative lack of historic interest in this cemetery.
In Section L, due west of the entrance gate, is the Vassar Acorn, so called
from the sculpture adorning it, where lie the graves of Matthew Vassar,
founder of the college, and his wife. The Livingston plot is surrounded by a
hedge on the high ground in the northwest corner of the cemetery. The
grave of Henry Livingston, an early land owner and a prominent figure in
the Colonial history of Poughkeepsie, is surrounded by those of about 70 of
his relatives and descendants, among them the eminent jurist, Smith Thomp
son. Nearby is the nursery, where many varieties of ornamental trees, shrubs,
and grasses are grown.
A road winds up from the pond to Mine Point, a high bluff overlooking
the river and offering an unsurpassed view of the entire long reach of the
Hudson, 5 miles north to the bend of Crum Elbow and 6 miles south to
the west bank promontory, Danskammer. This splendid expanse is framed
on the west by the highlands of Orange and Ulster Counties; on the south
and beyond Newburgh Bay, by Mount Beacon and the Storm King; and in
the north distance, by the towering Catskills, visible on clear days. From
this eminence the entire waterfront of Poughkeepsie is visible in clear per
spective, with the two great bridges spanning the river to the left and the
city spread out in wooded undulations eastward. Directly opposite, the high
bluff on the west bank is the Juffrouw's Hook mentioned in many early
documents.
The white marble mausoleum on the summit of Mine Point, conspicuous
from the river and from the southern waterfront of the city, was erected
recently as a private memorial. It was designed in a semi-modern style by
Presbery Leland of New York. A railed terrace beneath the monument has
been designated as the Lovers' Leap of popular tradition. Two young Indian
lovers, thwarted by the chiefs of the tribe, are said to have leaped to death
from this point.
50. SAMUEL W. BOWNE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, Pendell Rd.
just off Violet Ave. (State 9 F), (visitors admitted 3-5 p. m. daily) is a city-
owned hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis. The hospital buildings are
situated in a commanding position on a high knoll, the grounds including 32
acres of land. The present capacity is 135 beds, 52 of which, housed in the
Preventorium, are for children, and 83 for adults. The hospital was opened
in 1909 as a camp for those suffering from tuberculosis. In 1911 Mrs.
Bowne, widow of Samuel W. Bowne, who had been a partner of Scott &
Bowne, makers of Scott's Emulsion, erected the first of the present build
ings in memory of her husband.
The Nettie Bowne Hospital on the same plot of land is a private sani
tarium with 50 beds. Opened in 1928, it specializes in the treatment of
chest diseases and cardiac troubles.
53
VASSAR COLLEGE
The Vassar College campus is open to visitors, who may inspect the
buildings and grounds, including the gardens and arboretum. Upon
application to the Message Center in the Main Building, a guide will
be provided. The campus of the college is closed to automobiles on
Sundays and holidays. This regulation is a tradition of the college in the
interest of maintaining an atmosphere of quiet one day a week. Parking
space is provided outside the college gate for the convenience of visitors.
Vassar College was founded by Matthew Vassar, a Poughkeepsie brewer,
in 1861. The breaking out of the Civil War delayed the opening of the
college until the fall of 1865. Though lacking a formal education himself,
Mr. Vassar's innate wisdom led him to provide for others the advantages he
had never enjoyed. He was influenced in his decision to found a college for
women by his niece, Lydia Booth, and by Dr. Milo P. Jewett, head of the
Cottage Hill Seminary in Poughkeepsie. Although he had many far-reaching
ideas about the education of women which he expressed with complete free
dom, at its first meeting Mr. Vassar transferred to the Board of Trustees
all the funds for the college without restrictions or reservations.
One year before the opening of the college, Dr. Jewett resigned from
the presidency and from the Board of Trustees; and the Board elected John
H. Raymond, then president of the Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, as his
successor. Since the organization of the college, the choice of faculty, and
the determination of policy fell on Dr. Raymond, he is often spoken of as
the first rather than the second president of Vassar.
The enrollment for the first year was over 300. In the second year four
women received the A. B. degree: the two survivors of this class attended
their 70th reunion in June 1937.
For three years Mr. Vassar enjoyed close touch with the college and the
company of his "daughters." On the day before the commencement of 1868,
he died while reading his annual address at a meeting of the Board of
Trustees.
Dr. Raymond died in 1878. His successor, Dr. Samuel L. Caldwell,
served for 7 years. During the 28-year (1886-1914) administration of Dr.
James M. Taylor, the enrollment increased so rapidly that it was necessary
to limit the student body to 1,000. In 1915, Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken
was elected to the presidency, which he still retains.
The distinctive feature of the administration of Vassar College is its liberal
democratic organization. The faculty is in control of educational matters.
The students have self-government, an uncensored press, and are largely
consulted in curriculum content. Through joint and advisory committees much
responsibility is delegated to the community as a whole. The Students' Asso
ciation, of which all students are members, charters various clubs, such as
the Glee Club, the Art Club, and Le Cercle Francais, as well as the student
publications, which include the Miscellany News, a semi-weekly newspaper,
the Vassar Review, and others. There are no sororities at Vassar College.
54
Between classes the campus hums with bicycles operated under a system
of licenses and traffic regulations administered by the students. There are no
student-owned automobiles.
The religious life of the college centers in the Vassar Community
Church. In accordance with the intention of Matthew Vassar, the college,
while distinctly Christian in government, has no denominational affiliation.
Attendance at all chapel services is voluntary. The daily chapel services are
led by the faculty and students. For the Sunday services the church brings to
the college prominent leaders of religious thought.
During the summer months the Vassar Institute of Euthenics provides six
weeks of study, chiefly for college graduates who, as parents, teachers, or
social workers, are interested in the problems of rearing children and the
conduct of the family. During these six weeks the Wimpfheimer Nursery
School holds a summer session, and trained teachers care for the children of
mothers who are attending the summer Institute.
Among the 9,021 (1927) living alumnae of Vassar College are included
women of distinction in various fields. Poetry has been represented by
Adelaide Crapsey and Edna St. Vincent Millay, and literature by Con
stance Rourke. Pioneers and leaders in their chosen fields were Ellen Swallow
Richards, Julia Lathrop, and Katherine Bement Davis. Administrative and
executive positions are occupied by Josephine Roche, Ruth Taylor, and three
college presidents: Katharine Blunt, Constance Warren, and Mildred Mc
Afee.
From the time of Harriet Stanton Blatch, '78, a pioneer, through that of
Inez Millholland Boissevain, '09, until suffrage was an accomplished fact,
members of the college took an active part in the campaign for the enfran
chisement of women. In addition to their contribution to the general field of
education, Vassar students and alumnae have increasingly participated in
social and civic affairs.
The Vassar student body is now limited to 1,150. The faculty numbers
180 members, who teach in 31 departments. Vassar draws its students from
private and public schools throughout this country and from abroad. The
curriculum, several times revised, maintains the principles of distribution and
concentration as essentials in liberal education, but leaves the choice of par
ticular subjects and of special fields to individual election. The curriculum
is divided into four groups of subjects: the Arts, the Foreign Languages and
Literature, the Natural Sciences, and the Social Sciences. Credit is given for
applied art and music, for the writing and production of plays in the Ex
perimental Theatre of the English department, and for participation in the
Nursery School, used by college students as a laboratory for child study.
The aim of the plan of study is to secure for the student powers of self-
direction, and to avoid the cramping effects of regimentation. The scope of
the curriculum may establish direct connection with whatever life work the
student may choose. If she plans a career in one of the professions, she may
lay the foundation for further study. If her next step is to be a job, she may
obtain training which will be invaluable when she comes to the problem of
55
earning her living. If she looks forward to marriage, she may prepare her
self fully for the responsibilities of a home and family and citizenship.
Tour of Campus
The 950 acres of land owned by the college include, beside the campus
proper, a 9-hole golf course, two small lakes, a large farm, two large
faculty residences, and 27 other buildings. On the campus are 18 academic
buildings, 4 social buildings, and 8 residence halls, as well as gardens and
an outdoor theatre seating more than 3,000. The Vassar College buildings,
erected over a period of 70 years, are notable for their variety of architectural
style.
The triple-arched gateway running through Taylor Hall (L) on Ray
mond Avenue, is the main entrance to the campus. TAYLOR HALL (1)
houses the art department. Loan exhibitions are shown throughout the col
lege year. Outstanding in the permanent collections are three bronze por
traits by Jo Davidson ; a bronze figure of a woman by Lachaise ; several
notable Rembrandt prints; water colors by Turner from the personal col
lection of John Ruskin; and a collection of the paintings of the Hudson
River School, including some of George Inness. The most important paint
ings in the large gallery are : Taddeo Gaddi's San Taddeo; St. John the
Baptist by Bartolomeo Vivarini ; two Ulysses panels from the school of Piero
di Cosimo; View of the Scuola di San Rocco by Marieschi ; Mattia Preti's
Erminea and the Shepherds; a Landscape by Salvator Rosa; a portrait by
Pourbus; Courbet's Jumping Jack; and a Landscape by Wilson.
The gray, pinnacled THOMPSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY (2) was
donated by Mrs. Mary Clark Thompson in memory of her husband,
Frederick Ferris Thompson, a late trustee and friend of the college. Warmth
of color is added to the gray stone and oak interior by five 17th century
Flemish tapestries which tell the Cupid and Psyche story, and by a stained
glass window in the west wing which represents the conferring of the doc
torate upon a young Venetian woman by the University of Padua in 1678.
The library contains 200,000 volumes, including several valuable collec
tions: the Justice collection of material relating to the periodical press, the
Village Press collection printed by Frederic W. Goudy, of Marlboro, N. Y.,
and a Browning collection.
VAN INGEN HALL (3), a new wing connecting the Thompson
Library and Taylor Hall, provides additional space for the art department
and the main library.
The MAIN BUILDING (4) is one of the academic buildings completed
before the opening of the college in 1865. James Renwick, Jr., architect of
St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, based his design on the famous
Tuileries palace. To this old building clings much of the history of the
college, and old graduates returning, although delighting in improvements to
the interior, feel very much at home at the sight of old Main. Until 1893
practically all the students and many faculty members lived in this building.
56
"Blodgett Hall Arcli, Vassar College
Students' Building, Vassar College
Now it accommodates about 350 students, business and administration of
fices, the post office, the Cooperative Bookshop, the Raymond Reading Room,
and several reception rooms.
ROCKEFELLER HALL (5) was designed by York and Sawyer of
New York in modified early English Renaissance style. This building con
tains class and lecture rooms and offices for many of the academic depart
ments.
Rockefeller Hall forms the southern end of the dormitory quadrangle
with RAYMOND (6) and DAVISON HOUSES (7) on the west,
and STRONG (8) and LATHROP (9) on the east, all very
similar in architecture. Each houses about 95 students. Since 1933 Raymond
has been a cooperative house, the students doing all the housework except
the cooking. This plan was started because of the depression, but has proved
so satisfactory that it is being continued indefinitely. Since no student may
live in Raymond who is not doing satisfactory academic work, to be as
signed to this house is an honor.
The quadrangle enclosed by these buildings is said to be the site of the
field in which the daisies were picked for the first daisy chain carried by
sophomores on Class Day.
MILO P. JEWETT HOUSE (10), another dormitory, closes the
quadrangle on the northern end. It is constructed of red brick with white
stone trimmings. The central tower, originally built to support a tank for
the college water supply, was not tall enough to provide the necessary water
pressure, but its height, compared with that of the other buildings, has
brought it much unfavorable criticism. It commands a remarkable view of
the surrounding country.
OLIVIA JOSSELYN HOUSE (11), which accommodates 132 students,
was given by Mrs. Russell Sage in memory of her granddaughter. This
dormitory, a red brick building, was designed by Allen & Collens in a
modified Gothic style. Back of Josselyn to the north are tennis courts and a
hockey field, shielded from the street by rows of lilac bushes.
The STUDENTS' BUILDING (12) reveals its purpose in its name.
Designed by McKim, Mead, & White of New York, its architecture is
as simple and dignified as the Colonial town hall from which it was derived.
The interior is finished in white paneled wood. The auditorium, seating
1,200, is used for concerts and lectures. It contains a stage fully equipped
for the plays given by Philaletheis, and furnishes ample space for the "junior
prom" and other important dances. The auditorium is flanked by offices for
the various student organizations, and the Council Room, for small student
meetings, is on the second floor.
Students' Building faces the CIRCLE (13), a lawn encircled by flower
beds, shrubs, and pine trees. In the early days of Vassar a Floral Society
cultivated these beds. At a time when athletics as practiced today would
not have been considered "ladylike" and yet one hour daily outdoor exercise
57
was required, this work in the garden was very popular. Today, under the
supervision of the Superintendent of Grounds, the Circle is one of the most
beautiful spots on the campus. The lawn which it encircles is used as an ath
letic field for track, baseball, and archery.
GUSHING HOUSE (14), designed by Allen & Collens, is the newest
dormitory. The exterior, constructed of red brick and half timber, is of
Tudor design. The rooms, almost all single, accommodate 125 students.
HELEN KENYON HALL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION (15),
named for a member of the class of 1905, is of red brick and built on the
unit plan. One of the four great wings built around the central dressing
rooms is used for individual exercise and rhythmic work. In the other wings
are basketball, tennis, handball, and squash courts and a large swimming
pool. Under these courts run bowling alleys and an archery range.
The MILDRED ROSALIE WIMPFHEIMER NURSERY
SCHOOL (16), a small gray stone building, provides classrooms and play
equipment for about 30 children from the ages of two to five, who come from
the families of the faculty and of residents of Poughkeepsie. The Nursery
School serves as a laboratory for students taking courses in child study. In
this school Vassar has made a very successful experiment in co-education.
The MINNIE CUMNOCK BLODGETT HALL OF EUTHENICS
(17) furnishes facilities for education and research in the field of euthenics,
a word which has been defined as "the application of knowledge to the better
ment of human living." Blodgett Hall contains a demonstration theater, a
large lecture hall, classrooms, laboratories for research, and studios for de
sign and interior decoration. The north wing houses the physiology depart
ment with classrooms and a well-equipped laboratory. In this building a
group of about 30 students live under a cooperative system. Under the super
vision of the director of euthenics they order the food, which they cook and
serve, plan the menus, and control entirely the expenditure for food.
The WARDEN'S HOUSE (18), with its cedar-hedged garden, is the
private residence of the college warden.
The OBSERVATORY (19) is the only academic building beside Main
finished before the opening of the college. First professor of astronomy was
Maria Mitchell, distinguished, not only as a scientist, but also as an ardent
advocate of woman suffrage. She was the first woman whose bust was
placed in the Hall of Fame in New York. The first years of her life were
spent on her native island, Nantucket, where she got her early training in
the observatory of her father, William Mitchell. At the age of 10 she was
both teacher and pupil in his school, and in her thirteenth year she was
keeping records of his observations. Before she was 30, international fame
came to her through discovery of a comet for which she received a gold
medal from the King of Denmark. The degree of LL.D., conferred upon
her by Hanover College, was probably the first degree of its kind ever
58
conferred upon a woman by an American college. Professor Mitchell with
drew from active duties at the age of 70, less than two years before her death.
A bust of her, the work of Emma Brigham, a former student, stands in a
niche in front of the Observatory.
METCALF HOUSE (20) was given to Vassar in 1916 by former United
States Senator and Mrs. Jesse Metcalf, of Providence, R. I., as an expression
of gratitude to the medical department for the care given their daughter Cor
nelia during a serious illness. Miss Metcalf became the wife of New York
State Senator Frederic H. Bontecou, of Millbrook. The building contains a
pathological laboratory, an apartment for the resident physician, and rooms
for convalescents and rest cases.
The SWIFT MEMORIAL INFIRMARY (21) is the hospital for
members of the college family.
ELY HALL (22) is now the health center, with offices for the medical
staff and the nurses' suite. It houses also three art studios and class rooms,
offices, and a laboratory for the geology department. Its name recalls to
those who knew her, one of Vassar's distinguished graduates, Achsah M.
Ely, professor of mathematics, 1887-1904.
Back of Main are the buildings classed as the business group, including
the laundry, the service building, and the heating plant. This last was the
first central heating plant constructed in America. Nearby is the little
ELEANOR CONSERVATORY (23) and the GOODFELLOWSHIP
CLUB HOUSE (24), built by the Students' Association in 1902 as a club
house for the employees of the college, both men and women. Here a trained
supervisor lives, creating a home atmosphere for the members. She is as
sisted by students, who conduct classes, direct the annual Good fellowship
Club play, and often share in the social life of the house.
The Lombard Romanesque ALIDA C. AVERY HALL (25) is one of
the three oldest buildings on the campus. Although it has borne several
names and has been used in many different ways, its exterior is scarcely
changed since the time it was built during the first year of the college. It was
then called Riding School and Gymnasium, but contained also a bowling
alley, rooms for the department of music, and rooms for the families of em
ployees. The New York Times reported the Riding School as "the most beau
tiful in this country, second in size only to that of West Point." But in 7
years it proved a financial failure; and the student paper of January 1873,
contains the following mournful item: "The glory of Vassar has departed.
Its Riding School is no more. False economy. Would the Art Gallery be
abolished if it did not pay?" Today the building contains the Experimental
Theatre; its director, Hallie Flanagan, has been granted an extended leave
of absence to carry on her work as National Director of the Federal Theatre
Project under the Works Progress Administration. The building houses
also the classrooms and offices of the Greek and Latin departments with their
fine collection of ancient vases, glass, coins, armor, and household utensils;
59
the offices of the English department, and the classrooms, offices, and work
shop of the classes in Dramatic Production.
South of Main stands the science quadrangle, the ground sloping away
behind it to the Outdoor Theatre and the Shakespeare Garden. The earliest
of these buildings is VASSAR BROTHERS LABORATORY (26), given
for the use of the departments of chemistry and physics by the two nephews
of Mr. Vassar, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, both charter
trustees of the college until their deaths.
The SANDERS LABORATORY OF CHEMISTRY (27) contains
laboratories and lecture rooms and has special laboratories for water analysis,
study of foods, electrolysis, and physical chemistry.
The HENRY M. SANDERS LABORATORY OF PHYSICS (28)
contains laboratories and lecture rooms.
Directly west of Vassar Brothers Laboratory is the NEW ENGLAND
BUILDING (29), the gift of the New England alumnae. Over the door
is set a piece of Plymouth Rock broken off prior to 1859, when the canopy
was erected over it. The name of the vandal who procured this relic is not
known. The building houses the departments of botany and zoology as well
as the museum of natural history.
The PRESIDENT'S HOUSE (30) stands near the southwest corner of
Main Building.
The CHAPEL (31) was dedicated in the fall of 1904. It is constructed
of yellow Weymouth granite trimmed with limestone. The exterior is de
signed like an English parish church in the Norman style. The interior is
Gothic with hammer-beam-trusses copied from Westminster Hall, London.
The stained glass windows are from the Tiffany studios, three of them de
signed by LaFarge. The organ of 4,538 pipes has been rebuilt as a gift from
the donors of the chapel. A rose window on the west was given by the trus
tees to commemorate the twentieth year of the administration of President
Taylor. The facade of the chapel faces north, with a square three-story bell
tower on the western side. The tower contains a memorial room with tablets
commemorating members of the college who have rendered conspicuous
service to the college or to the outer world. In the upper part of the towei
is a room used for religious services by the students. Here visiting preachers
hold weekly conferences on Sunday evenings.
The BELLE SKINNER HALL OF MUSIC (32) is designed in modi
fied French Gothic after Mont St. Michel in France. It contains a large
recital hall, classrooms, offices, rooms for instruction and practice, and a
collection of old musical instruments. A library of books and music includes
the Chittenden Pianoforte Library and the Dannreuther Collection of
Chamber Music. The building is equipped with an auditorium and a sound-
reproducing system, a four-manual concert organ with self-playing attach
ment, phonographs, player pianos, and a stereopticon.
60
South of Skinner Hall are the COLLEGE GREENHOUSES (33), and
across the street is a FARM (34) stretching over more than 900 acres,
which supplies the college with many of its vegetables, poultry, and dairy
products.
To the north along Raymond Avenue and extending up College Avenue
are KENDRICK HOUSE (35) and WILLIAMS HOUSE (36), faculty
residences, and the DEAN'S HOUSE (37).
ALUMNAE HOUSE (38) is on the Rock Lot between Raymond and
College View Avenues, overlooking the campus. Both this house and Wil
liams are in early half-timbered style. Alumnae House was given by two
sisters, Mrs. Blanche Ferry Hooker, '94, and Mrs. Queene Ferry Coonley,
'98. Many of the rooms have been furnished in memory of classmates and
friends. A Japanese room was given in memory of the Princess Oyama, for
merly Stematz Yamakawa of the class of 1882. The living room is a copy
of a room in the Davanzatti Palace in Florence, and is furnished with
antiques, reproductions of Spanish furniture, and a cryptic painting by Violet
Oakley. The house is under the management of the Alumnae Association and
is the home of its executive secretary.
The OUTDOOR THEATRE (39) takes advantage of the hillside to
form an amphitheatre and makes use of the pine trees and Sunset Lake as a
backdrop for its stage. It was first used in 1915 to present a pageant during
the fiftieth anniversary, which was celebrated that year.
West of the theatre and enclosed by tall hedges is the terraced SHAKES
PEARE GARDEN (40), begun in 1916, the year of the Shakespeare
Tercentenary, by Shakespeare classes and classes in botany. At the foot of
the hill is a tree said to be grown from a slip of the willow over Napoleon's
tomb on St. Helena. Along this brook are cultivated, for experimental pur
poses, most of the plants native to the county. The strip is known as the
DUTCHESS COUNTY OUTDOOR ECOLOGICAL LABORA
TORY (41).
On the hillside south from the Shakespeare Garden and sloping down to
Sunset Lake are the azaleas and rhododendrons planted for the class of 1875
ARBORETUM (42).
Most of the college buildings have been gifts from alumnae, trustees, and
other friends of the college, who have not only contributed in this substan
tial way, but have identified themselves with the activities and progress of
the institution.
The following paragraph, in the formal language of the day, appeared in
u student magazine issued in 1873: "The artist who sketched the picture of
our college as shown in the first page of the catalogue must have looked
with the eye of faith to see waving elms and flourishing maples. The eye of
flesh sees only here and there amidst the growing corn and trailing pumpkin
61
vines a few slender twigs. We can never picture our great great grand
children wandering under spreading boughs." So spoke a pessimist, little
realizing that not only her grandchildren but she herself might now walk
for hours over the well-kept lawns and under the beautiful trees of the
Vassar campus.
BEACON
Railroad Stations: New York Central, Ferry Plaza, foot of Beekman St.; New York,
New Haven & Hartford, (freight only), 501 Main St.; connections with West Shore
(N. Y. Central) and Erie at Newburgh via ferry.
Bus Stations: Pizzuto Bus Lines, Bank Square, to Wappingers Falls and Poughkeepsie.
City Busses: Ferry Plaza, to Glenham and Fishkill. Special bus service to U. S.
Veterans' Hospital and Camp Nitgedaiget.
Taxis: Ferry Plaza; independent lines, three zones, 25C, 400, 500.
Steamboat Docks: Newburgh Ferry, foot of Beekman St., 6 a. m. to 1:45 a. m. Hudson
River Dayline, via ferry to Newburgh, during summer after May i.
Accommodations: Hotel Holland (E), 217 Main St., at South Elm St.; Dillon House
(E), opposite new postoffice; Beacon View Hotel (E), 426 Main St.; Bennett Hotel
(A & E), 248 Main St., at Walnut St.; Mount Beacon Cottages (E) ,on west spur
of Mount Beacon, reached by incline railway.
Motion Picture Houses: Two.
Recreation: Mount Beacon, via incline railway. (See Point of Interest No. 32.)
Playground: Hammond Memorial Field, Verplanck Ave., N. side.
Skiing: Junior ski course, along mountside, NE. Beacon. Ski-run, Mount Lane-
Howland Ave. triangle, E. Beacon.
Golf: Southern Dutchess County Club, North Ave., nine-hole. Greens fees $1.50;
Sat., Sun., holidays $2.
Tennis: Southern Dutchess Country Club; Hammond Memorial Field.
Baseball: Wilke St. (Tompkins) Field, off Fishkill Ave. (State 52).
Trap-Shooting: Southern Dutchess Sportsmen's Assn., oven-works range, Glenham
(State 52).
BEACON (350 alt., 11,933 pop.), the county's second largest com
munity, marks the spot where Fishkill Creek flows into the Hudson. Mills
and factories line the creek and river shores. The streets of frame cottages
sheltered by elms and maples wind up and down and along the steep slopes
of the two valleys. The better homes lie along the slope of the Hudson ;
those of the middle class cover the slopes above the Fishkill ; and the poorer
homes alternate with the mills along the creek-edge or hug the terraces
which rise to the rugged side of Mount Beacon on the south. The city line ex
tends far beyond the compact city streets, so that much of the corporate area
is distinctly rural.
Beacon is essentially a manufacturing community ; bricks and hats are now,
as they have been for generations, the principal products, though the list
exceeds 50. The brick industry is concentrated in one large plant at Denning
62
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(I
of
Point on the Hudson. (See Points of Interest.) Of the few remaining hat
factories, one occupies the site of Madam Brett's gristmill (See Point of In
terest No. 12), and another a building in which handcut files were first
manufactured in the United States. (See p. 66.)
While almost every European nationality is represented, the Italians are
by far the most conspicuous, comprising one-sixth of the population ; and
their activities are those of the city. Americanization has been so rapid that
old world customs are but faintly traceable. The influence of the early
Dutch, Huguenot, and English settlers has been lost, other than in surviving
names and buildings. An exception are the "mountaineers," who live on the
flanks of Mount Beacon and look down upon the valley dwellers as "water-
rats." These descendants of early English residents of Fishkill Landing and
Matteawan, the two villages which were welded together in 1913 to form
Beacon, are largely odd-job and day laborers and small-scale truck farmers,
though some of them work in the city factories.
Beacon has the distinction of being the first commission-governed city in
New York State, as well as one of the first in the United States. The govern
ment is managed by a board of five commissioners, each of whom has charge
of specific details. The city council controls all public affairs excepting the
department of education, which is under the supervision of the school
board appointed by the mayor. A municipality owned water supply of
three reservoirs is maintained in the nearby mountains. The climate is tem
perate and the coolness of the mountains makes a summer resort of the city
and vicinity. Over 70 percent of the city's 2,400 houses are owned by the oc
cupants.
River, creek, and mountains made of the site of Beacon and the sur
rounding area a favorite resort of the Indians ; and not far from the mouth
of the creek was located the village of a sub-chief of the Wappinger In
dians. This good hunting, fishing, and trapping ground was called by the
Indians Matteawan ( Mat-te-a-wan ) , the name later applied to one of the
white men's villages. The Highlands were known by the Waranoaks of tnis
section as the Matteawan Mountains. The name has been interpreted as
"the place of furs," referring to beaver, once plentiful along the creek. An
other claim is that it is derived from metal, a magician or medicine man, and
wuin, a skin, hence "a place of enchanted skins." It is said also to have been
derived from the stream passing through this area, from the nearby moun
tains, and from the region itself. Interpretations are various: "river of shal
lows," "the large water in the valley," "a good beaver ground," "goo3
furs," "country of good fur," and a term applied to a junction of a stream
with another or with a lake.
The site of Beacon was included within the territory covered by the Rom-
bout Patent; the land was purchased from the Indians in 1683. (See p. 6.)
It is said that in the bargaining the Indians agreed to transfer to Rombout
all "the land that he could see," but did not specify that his view was to be
confined to the valley where he stood. Rombout led them to the summit of
63
South Beacon mountain, and extending his arm toward the northward and
eastward, laid claim to the vast expanse of rolling hills and forests that lay
beneath their gaze. The Indians had made their bargain and they held to it.
The patent was based upon the wide boundaries of this purchase.
The earliest recorded mention of this locality by a European was that made
by the mate of the Half Moon, which on the trip down the river was com
pelled by the whims of the weather to lie for a day in the vicinity of the
present city of Beacon. (See p. 6.) The log of the voyage mentions the
mountains and refers to the site of Beacon as an admirable townsite.
For nearly three-quarters of a century after the visit of the Half Moon
there were no permanent white settlers in Dutchess County. The first was
Nicholas Emigh, who settled at the mouth of Fishkill Creek, within the
present city limits, in 1682. Emigh, a Hollander and a soldier under Prince
Rupert in the warfare against Cromwell, came to America with Robert
Livingston about 1672. He was married on shipboard, and, with his wife,
settled in this nearly unbroken wilderness. Their daughter was the first
white child born within the precincts of Dutchess County. The next per
manent settler was Peche Dewall, a squatter, who located at Fishkill Landing
in the spring of 1688. His wife helped him to clear the forest and till his
land. In the fall he had a tolerable crop; and in the winter he built a hand-
sled and went to New York, bought a half-bushel of salt and a side of sole
leather, and drew it home over a road then but an Indian trail.
Development was slow. More Dutch, a few Huguenots, and some English
settlers joined the trailbreakers ; but for many years Fishkill Landing played
a mute role as the port of Fishkill Village, transporting flour and produce to
New York and receiving foreign and manufactured goods.
Active in the stirring preliminaries to the Revolution was Nathaniel
Sackett, described by tradition as a jack of many trades and man of mystery
who did his work under cover. He lived up on Fishkill Creek, in what be
came Matteawan. He served as financial officer of the Committee of Con
spiracies, member of the Flax Committee and of the Provincial Congresses
and Assembly. When the news came to the Provincial Congress in New
York of the Battle of Lexington, Nathaniel Sackett hastened back to Fish-
kill like another Paul Revere, to spread the general alarm and organize the
Committee of Observation. At the first meeting of this committee a Spartan
woman declared with patriotic zeal that if exigencies required it her own
sex would take up arms.
In the summer of 1776 and on into 1777, the problem of the refugees and
the poor from the city of New York was of considerable concern to the
Colonials. A large number of these people were removed to Dutchess, and
many were brought by water to Fishkill Landing.
The war came close to the locality when the British moved up the Hud
son in 1777. Almost all the men went to the defense of the Highland forts.
When these fell and the British sailed up the river to burn Kingston, the
people of the neighborhood hid their valuables in the woods. The approach
64
of the fleet was made known by the kindling of signal fires on the mountain
tops. The present city takes its name from the fiery beacons that blazed forth
from time to time on the summits of Breakneck Ridge to warn the Revolu
tionary armies of the movements of the British.
At the end of the war, when the proclamation of the end of hostilities was
received, the people obeyed Washington's order and held an appropriate
celebration. At night beacon lights proclaimed the news to the surrounding
country.
For nearly 30 years after the close of the Revolution the region continued
its quiet rural life, the grist mills continued grinding their grain and the
saw mills sawing their wood. The War of 1812 ushered in a new era. The
Schenck mill on the creek at what later became Matteawan took on the added
task of grinding grist for the fighting forces, and the flour industry hummed.
But the influence of the war was much broader than that: it brought a con
sciousness of self-sufficiency and internal strength; forward-looking in
vestors and speculators began casting about them, seeking new resources
and opportunities. And the war provided a field of activity by serving as an
embargo against English textiles and giving domestic manufacturers a virtual
monopoly of the home market for the time being. It was the beginning of
the industrial age in America.
To the attention of a small group of men was presented the possibilities
of developing the power of Fishkill Creek, which drops rapidly from Glen-
ham to the Hudson, with a fall of 40 feet in a short section where Schenck's
gristmill already stood. Flour was nearly forgotten in the rush to turn out
textiles. The first big mill was built at Glenham in 1811. The Matteawan
Company, organized in 1812 by Peter A. Schenck, Philip Hone, John Jacob
Astor, and others, erected a cotton mill in 1814 on the creek directly above
Schenck's gristmill. Shortly thereafter they built a foundry on the east side
of the creek, devoted largely to the production of cotton machinery. With
the spread of the cotton craze, their machinery was distributed far beyond the
bounds of the United States.
Around the Matteawan factory grew Matteawan village, the name of
which was originally restricted to the mills. The founders are reputed to have
been Schenck and Leonard of the Matteawan Company. The Brett in
fluence was represented in this development of the new country, since Peter
A. Schenck's wife, Margaret Brett, was a granddaughter of Madam Brett.
Fishkill, five miles back from the river, had long been the important vil
lage of southern Dutchess. The lower settlements near the river did not
amount to much, except for Fishkill Landing, where the sloops docked with
merchandise and passengers to be hurried inland by wagon and coach. The
new cotton mills stimulated the growth of the river communities. Another
fillip was given by the introduction of steam, as a result of which river traffic
grew in volume and importance. The Bretts (See Teller House, p. 74) and
their associates were quick to turn to the new mode ; and the lower settle
ments began to outrun Fishkill.
65
The power sites that were the chief stimulus to the development of Mat-
teawan attracted other industries besides the textile mills. John Rothery, of
Sheffield, England, built his file works in 1835 near the Matteawan factory.
Various other industries located in the neighborhood : an oil mill, a clay mill,
cooperages, tanneries, a leather belting manufactory, a shoe factory, soap
and candle makers, and a brewery.
Quantities of clay and sand of good quality were at hand, and brickyards
were established near the landings in the late 1830's. At Gowdy's yard, and
its successor, the Lomas yard, the pace was set in brickmaking: here was
first introduced the circular pit and wheel, with horses on a sweep, for
mixing materials, and a hand-press for moulding the brick. Previously the
clay and sand had been mixed by driving oxen through it and moulding it
by hand, a slow and laborious process. The next stage in the development of
the industry was the use of the Adams contrivance of circular pit and
wheel, mixing and moulding in one operation ; then the Chambers machine,
mixing and die-cutting the brick in a continuous stream.
After the financial crisis of 1837 the forties ushered in a golden age. The
cotton craze continued, and in '41 and '42 a dam and factory devoted to
cotton spinning were erected at Wiccopee, below Matteawan, now included
in Beacon. At Byrnesville, the southern section of the present Beacon, flour
mills were dismantled and cotton machinery installed. Freighting at the
landings was stimulated by this industrial boom. About 1844, Alfred Lomas,
operating a pin factory near the "Five Corners" (Bank Square), invented a
machine to turn out 150 pins a minute. At Wiccopee in 1851 was begun the
manufacture of rubber goods. In 1853, at the Upper Landing, a foundry
was started for the manufacture of stationary and marine engines. The
famous Fishkill Corliss engines were made here. During the Civil War this
foundry turned out ordnance: and from the landing nearby, the steamboat
Will:am Kent went into service carrying troops.
After the war, in a new era of iron and steel, industry took another spurt.
Railroad development helped, first the New York Central, and in 1868 the
beginning of lines eastward from Fishkill Landing into New England. Thus
Fishkill Landing became a railroad terminal point. The New Haven built
docks and yards and operated a ferry freight transfer to the Erie across the
river. In 1860 Jackson started his carra^e works; his wagons became known
afar. At Matteawan in 1864 the manufacture of wool hats began. The knife
and cutlery industry also started there, but moved to Walden, where it was
developed. The wealthy Winthrop Sargent brought from England for use
on his country estate the first lawn mower on American soil. Coldwell saw
it, and worked at Matteawan on the first American machines. A. T. Stewart
started his carpet mills at Groveville in 1873.
Fishkill Landing was incorporated as a village in 1864. Matteawan was
considerably larger than the Landing, but was not officially incorporated as
a village until 1886. In the nineties the twin villages ranked next to Dan-
bury, Conn., in the manufacture of hats. In that decade the British patent
66
holders established their American plant at Matteawan for the manufacture
of fuel economizers and ventilating systems. The Corrington plant turned
out air brakes. Benjamin Hammond came from Mount Kisco with his pat
ented formulas for insecticides, fungicides, and the like. Potter invented and
manufactured wagon brakes. The Van Houten brothers invented brakers' ma
chinery and set up a factory. The silk industry thrived. The two villages ex
panded and finally grew together, uniting in 1913 to form the city of
Beacon.
The present century brought a slowing up and a decline. The railroad
terminal and transfer were removed ; the hat industry shrunk ; silk mills
closed. But the diversity of industries held the community together and the
storms were ridden out. And in the midst of all the industrial ups and
downs the old Schenck gristmill, begun in 1800, continued grinding grist
almost until the day it burned in 1915. The growth of the city has con
tinued steadily. Between 1900 and 1930 the population showed an increase
of 25.8 per cent.
MOTOR TOUR (7.4 m.)
The tour begins at Bank Square.
W. on Main St.
1. Site of UPPER LANDING, foot of Main St., which for many years
was Fishkill Landing's front door. Peter Bogardus built the dock and store
house, and in 1765 opened a ferry which ran from here to Newburgh across
the Hudson. At the opening of the Revolution it was known as Bogardus
Dock, and during the war the storehouse contained military supplies. The
ferry was an important link in a military artery, the "middle road," which
crossed the river at this point.
In 1853 a foundry was built here for the manufacture of stationary and
marine engines, the famous Fishkill Corliss steam engines. During the Civil
War the foundry was converted into an Army ordnance shop ; and the land
ing became a troop center. The Hudson River Railroad had a station stop
here after its completion in 1849-50; and the Connecticut and Dutchess
Railroad made the landing its western terminus in 1868. Extensive docks
and yards were built at a point south of the present ferry; and a freight car
ferry made connections with the Erie Railroad at Newburgh.
L. from Main St. on River St.; R. on Beekman St.
2. The BEACON-NEWBURGH FERRY (L), foot of Beekman St.,
was established at the LOWER LANDING in 1743. The original charter,
which forms the basis of the charter under which the ferry now operates,
was granted by King George II on the petition of Alexander Golden of
Fishkill Landing to the Hon. George Clarke, then Lieutenant-Governor of
the Province of New York. The first ferry consisted of sail and row boats.
67
Today there are four modern boats, sturdily constructed for ice-breaking
and especially equipped for passenger and motor car transportation. Since
1881 ferry service has been continuously maintained throughout the year.
The river between Beacon and Newburgh is about 1 mile wide. This
expanse, once known as Fishkill Bay, is now called Newburgh Bay. The
ferry boat offers an excellent vantage point from which to view the much-
praised scene at the north portal of the Hudson Highlands. When he was
Governor of the State, Franklin Delano Roosevelt often travelled on this
ferry, describing it as "one of the most historically colorful ferries in
America."
Directly below, and adjoining the ferry slip, is the historic LONG
WHARF, built between 1812 and 1816. A promoter put a small fortune
into this dock. The older portion of a yellow wooden building standing at
the tip of the wharf was at one time an inn. Erected about 1830, it was
an important hostelry in the heyday of river traffic.
Backtrack on Beekman St.; Sharp R. on 2nd opening of Ferry St., western
entrance to Bank Square.
3. The REFORMED CHURCH (R) Ferry and Academy Sts., is the
city's oldest standing church. A massive edifice of somewhat peculiar, modi
fied Gothic architecture, it is built of red brick with locally quarried stone
capping the buttresses. In 1859 it replaced the original one built in 1813. In
1820, a negress, Margaret, was baptized and received into the church; and
seats were thereafter provided for her race. Liberated slaves in 1857 es
tablished a school nearby in the Academy Street neighborhood and later built
their own church.
John Peter DeWindt, wealthy trader and slave owner, was one of the
founders of the Reformed Church. Millard Fillmore, as ex-president, at
tended services here. Henry Ward Beecher preached here in the years
before the Civil War, when he was being subjected to violent attacks for
his strong anti-slavery stand.
At the rear of the church an old graveyard extends down the slope to
the old plank road. In this somewhat neglected burial ground, dating back
to the 18th century, families are interred in rows, not in plots. Unusual
also in this region are vaults built into the steep bank. On the headstones
are the names of Tellers, Wiltses, and Boyces, and others who figured
prominently in the early history of the section. The oldest inscriptions are
those on the markers of Henry Schenck (1743-1799), William Sebring
(d. 1814), and Dr. William Forman (d. 1816).
L. from Ferry St. on Park Ave.
4. SPY HILL (L and R), Park Ave. between Ferry St. and Wolcott
Ave., gets its name from the eminent service it performed as a lookout point
during the Revolution. Commanding an unbroken scene up and down the
Hudson for many miles, it offers a view of the Highlands in the south
with Storm King and Sleeping Indian Mountains looming against the
horizon. Westward on the river terrace is the city of Newburgh, with the
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Along Wa$pinger Creek
Shawangunk Mountains in the distant background. In the northwest the
Catskills tower 4,000 feet above the Hudson. The artist-historian, Lossing,
speaks of the "broad and beautiful bay," its surface broken by a solitary
rock island, Polopel. He sketched and published views made from this point.
One of them includes lower Newburgh, the mouth of Quassaic Creek, and
the villages of New Windsor and Cornwall. Private residences now
crown the hill where blue-coated patriot soldiers once camped.
L. from Park Ave. on Wolcott Ave.
5. WHITE HOUSE SANITARIUM (R), Wolcott and South
Aves., a large house with white pillared porches, was once the home of Prof.
Charles Davies (1798-1876), mathematician, author, and instructor at
West Point and later at Columbia University. Charles Dickens was among
the distinguished guests entertained here. Between the Davies occupancy
and the advent of the sanitarium, the house was used as a school conducted by
Benjamin Lee Wilson, educator, English scholar, and cousin of President
Woodrow Wilson.
6. The LOUIS A. GILLET HOUSE (R), 263 Wolcott Ave., was
built in 1836 and is famous for its door, removed from the DePeyster House.
(See Point of Interest No. 11.) This second-oldest doorway in the county
shows the Georgian influence in the grooved and reeded pilasters and raised
bevelled panels. The bulls-eyes at the top of the door are typical of the style ;
and the small panes of colored translucent glass in the side lights are
unusual. The inside of the door has horizontal boards and long, iron strap
hinges.
R. from Wolcott Ave. on Sargent Ave.
69
7. The LARCH TREES (R), along Sargent Ave., which are inter
spersed with hemlocks, are notable for their unusual height. Larch is the
one conifer that sheds its needles in the winter the one evergreen that is
not an evergreen.
8. The MARIANIST PREPARATORY (L), opposite the larch
trees, conducted by Brothers of the Order of the Society of Mary, trains
young men for the priesthood and as religious educators. The main building
was once the residence of William Kent, son of the Chancellor and Justice
of the Supreme Court of New York State. The recently altered house is
covered with cream, beige, and brown siding, suggesting stone.
9. WODENETHE (R), opposite and a little farther on (public may
drive through the grounds), was formerly the home of Winthrop Sargent,
an early 20th century philanthropist. It is now one of the properties of the
Craig House Sanitarium. (See Point of Interest No. 14.) The house is a
large two-story structure painted yellow with white trim. A three-story sec
tion is topped by a 4-hipped, curved pyramidal roof. The grounds were em
bellished by the elder Sargent; and although he was an amateur, he may
be called the originator of landscape gardening in the United States.
Sargent was a friend of Downing, the famous horticulturist and architect.
The gardens, and especially the Roman Garden, are renowned.
L. from Sargent Ave. on South Ave.
10. The BYRNESVILLE CEMETERY (L), corner of Sargent and
South Aves., above the road cut, contains the unkept graves of early
settlers: Roger Brett, Myer Thomas Pierce, and others. The earliest date
on any of the dozen remaining stones is 1797.
R. under railroad tracks.
11. The DE PEYSTER NEWLIN BYRNES HOUSE (R), close
to the railroad, was erected about 1743 and was occupied for a time by
Abraham de Peyster, nephew of Madam Brett. It later passed through the
hands of Newlin and Byrnes, and is now occupied by several families.
It is a fine example of gambrel-roofed, Colonial brick house. The base
ment story is of Hudson River blue stone, and runs back into the hillside.
The story and one-half above the basement are red brick laid in Flemish
bond, pierced by three windows in the gable ends. The high stoop fronting
the main entrance is not the original; the first Dutch door was moved to the
Gillet House. (See Point of Interest No. 6.)
After the burning of Kingston, the British fleet dropped down the Hud
son and anchored in Newburgh Bay. Lieut. Philip Hamilton, so the tale
runs, came ashore with other officers of his ship and wandered into the
forest alone. When he returned to the river, the boat that brought him ashore
had gone; and the ships were under sail. He ran down the river bank in a
vain endeavor to signal them. Dusk was setting. Seeking shelter, he knocked
at the door of Abraham de Peyster. Frankly confessing his identity, Ham
ilton was admitted and invited to join the family at the evening meal.
Katrina, the daughter, presided ; and the young officer fell in love with her
70
at once. With characteristic Dutch caution, Abraham de Peyster conducted
Hamilton to a room on the top floor, turned the key, and the following
morning escorted him to Fishkill to face a military tribunal, which paroled
him in de Peyster's custody for the period of the war. The romance and
courtship thus begun ended in his marriage with Katrina in the fall of
1783, after the surrender of Cornwallis.
12. The site of MADAM BRETT'S MILL (R), occupied by the
Tioronda Hat Works, is beside the Fishkill at the foot of a falls which
furnished the necessary water power. The gristmill was built in 1708
by Roger and Catharyna Brett, who also built a dwelling nearby and
set aside 300 acres to go with the two buildings. No trace of the house re
mains, as it was probably abandoned within a year, when they moved to a
new house. (See Point of Interest No. 23.) The mill stood at the head of
navigation on the Fishkill. Here an eyebolt, still visible, was set in a
large stone by which to tie up ships.
ROGER BRETT, a native of Somersetshire, England, was one of a
coterie of young Englishmen who came to America at the time Queen Anne
sent her young cousin, Lord Cornbury, to be governor of the province.
He lived in New York in 1703, and after his marriage to Catharyna Rom-
bout in that year, was listed as "a Master of Family in the City of New
York." In 1703-06, his name appears as a vestryman of Trinity Church.
He was on intimate terms with Lord Cornbury and entertained him at his
home. Brett had married well, for his wife had fallen heir to the great
Rombout Patent (See History) up the Hudson. Less fortunate was his death.
In 1716, coming from New York in his own sloop, he was drowned when
the boom of his ship swept him overboard not far from the Brett mill.
13. The FISHKILL (since kil is Dutch for creek, Fishkill Creek is a
tautology) (R and L) bounds down the side of the Hudson Valley and
enters the tidewater Hudson at this point. The prosaic sucker, which is here
in large numbers, has lent its name to the cascade immediately upstream.
Between Sucker Falls and the road is the small FAIRY ISLAND. The
Indians believed a manitou dwelt here, and they otten came to admire and
worship. Painters of the Hudson River School and other later artists have
pictured this scene of foaming water and mossy, tree-shaded banks.
L,. from South Ave. on Grandview Ave., L. on Howland Ave.
14. CRAIG HOUSE SANITARIUM (General Howland House)
(L), first beyond intersection, was the home of Gen. Joseph Howland from
1834 to 1886. Howland was a Civil War officer and a philanthropist. Eliza
Woolsey Howland, his wife, and Georgeanna Woolsey Bacon, his sister-in-
law and author of Handbook of Nursing, were both nurses in Civil War
hospitals. The property and house, known as Tioronda, have been purchased
by the sanitarium corporation, which has taken over many another South
Beacon estate for the treatment of mental patients. A private institution, it
caters to those who can afford to pay for the elegance and care the various
units offer.
71
15. The UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT (New York City) SUM
MER CAMP (CAMP STOVER) (R), just beyond the sanitarium,
is a well equipped vacation resort for 700 boys and girls and some adults
from New York's lower East Side. Facilities include a swimming pool and
various buildings for camp use. Mountain Rest, the main building, is the
remodeled former HOME OF REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER.
The original house, which forms the nucleus of the present structure, was
the 18th century ANNAN HOUSE, one of the first dwellings in this
region. Annan, later a lieutenant in the Revolution, purchased a tract of land
from the Brett Estate between 1757 and 1761. The present building, with
its white clapboard siding, green trim, and red roof, gives little if any
clue to the appearance of the original.
R. from Howland Ave. on dirt road.
16. The MOUNT BEACON INCLINE RAILWAY (L), end of
road, (30$ round trip), climbs the west spur of Mount Beacon, giving access
to the mountain top resort of the Mount Beacon-on-Hudson Association.
This cable railway, powered by electricity, is reputed to be the steepest
of its kind in the world; it is 2,200 ft. long, with a vertical rise of 1,200
ft. The two observation cars are built on a tilt to correspond with the
slope of the hill. A single cable, attached to each end of a car, passes over
a rotating drum in the power house at the summit. While one car rises,
the other descends; and they pass on a midway switch. The road was
opened on Memorial Day in 1902, carrying more than 60,000 people the first
season. (For Casino see Point of Interest No. 32.)
Backtrack to Wolcott Ave.
17. ST. LUKE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH (R), Wolcott Ave. be
tween South Liberty and Rector Sts., is a plain English Gothic structure
of stone, erected in 1868. The building with its high gables, buttresses,
and arched doors and windows, is a copy of an English church visited and
admired by General Howland, one of the chief subscribers to the St. Luke's
building fund. The Rectory and Parish House are set apart from the
church, separated from it by a broad park which is studded with magnificent
beech trees, imported from England. A chestnut-oak, the only oak in the line
along Wolcott Ave., was propagated from one of the "Washington Oaks"
which stood on Dennings Point in Revolutionary days, and under which
Washington rested after ferrying from New Wi-ndsor.
On both sides of the rocky knoll north of the church is a cemetery
which contains the graves of many famous persons. Here are buried James
Kent, Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Chancellor of the State of New York,
and author of Kent's Commentaries; Smith T. Van Buren, son of the
president ; Dr. Frank M. Tiernan, Civil War drummer boy ; and many others
whose names hark back to early settlement: Van Vliet, Tillot, DuBois, Van
Kleeck, Schenck, Wolcott, Sargent, and Knevels. The northeastern part of the
cemetery is the Presbyterian section, older than the Episcopal section, and
contains a marker dated 1812.
R. From PFolcott Ave. on Spring Valley St.
72
18. MARY ANN'S BRIDGE (L), spanning the Fishkill, is named
for a woman who kept a tavern at this crossing before the Civil War.
The new concrete arch bridge replaces spans dating back a hundred years
and offers a fine view of the lower valley of the Fishkill, a sight often
described, photographed, and painted. The creek cuts between the high
banks, tumbling over several falls before it reaches the Hudson.
Spring Valley St. becomes Mill St. Straight ahead on East Main St. to
Howland A<ve. Main tour turns L. on Hoivland Ave.
A side-tour continues on East Main St., locally known as "Mountain
Lane."
Right on Annan St. is the diminutive MOUNTAIN CHAPEL (R), a
gray painted frame building which looks like a one-room country school-
house. For many years it has served the mountainside people as an un
denominational church. The "mountaineers," as they are called, are a
peculiar folk group which has resided at the foot of the mountains for
many generations, adhering to primitive traditions and customs. Although
a large number of them work in Beacon as factory hands or odd-job men,
they spend a great deal of their time in the hills, know every foot of the
rough ground, and are natural woodsmen. Some of the older ones pride
themselves on their wood-chopping ability. These people appear to have
descended from some of the finer early families. A tradition among them
avers that a British soldier was a progenitor of a representative family.
Scotch settlers also came into the mountain fastnesses nearly a hundred
years ago, a hardy people, who believed that elves, fairies, and gonomes
inhabited the hills.
At the end of East Main St., a bridge crosses Dry Brook.
The HIKER'S TRAIL ascends an ancient road beyond the bridge. Early
maps indicate that this was an important highway of the early igth
century, and one of the pioneer roads of southern Dutchess a century
earlier. It is understood that this is the old Danbury Road that left the
Hudson at Willet Landing and crossed the mountains here to the Clove,
thence continuing into New England. This route to the east was the
most direct from the West Point vicinity and was used for military
purposes during the Revolution when troops and supplies were trans
ported back and forth across the Hudson between Fishkill Landing and
the west shore.
As it rises above the city, the trail leads up a deep ravine north of
Mount Beacon and skirts the slope of Bald Hill (L).
The character of the vegetation changes rather abruptly as the higher
elevations are reached. At 700 to 1,000 ft. are thickets of laurel, azalea,
and scrub-oak. Trailing arbutus, once plentiful, has become scarce. The
rattlesnake and the copperhead are rarely met.
At 1.25 m. (R) is a side trail to Beacon reservoir and Mount Beacon.
Straight ahead the main trail leads to the head of the ravine and the
abandoned Greer farm.
A rough trail (L) leads along the ridges of Bald Hill and beyond, fol
lowing the general trend of one of several roads constructed nearly a
century ago for exploiting iron ore deposits. Near Bald Hill was located
the ipth century property of the Manhattan Iron Works.
Bald Hill (over 1,200 ft.) is named for its barren and rocky slopes which
have only a thin covering of stunted trees. It is sometimes Called Burnt
Mountain, for it has repeatedly been swept by forest fires.
At 7.5 m. is HELL HOLLOW (Boulder Glen), a i,ooo-ft.-deep gulch in
the eastern mountainside. Its bottom is choked with huge boulders, which,
73
combined with the precipitous sides, make the cleft practically inaccessible.
A foot trail descends to the Albany Post Road (US 9), in the valley to
the southeast.
L. on Howland Ave.
19. HIDDENBROOKE (R), Howland Ave. opposite green barn, is
occupied by the Ursuline Novitiate. It lies in a little valley at the base of
the mountains, and is surrounded by lawns and gardens. The institution
is devoted to the training of novices for lives of religious work. The
Novitiate chapel, erected in 1925, is of Gothic architecture. The exterior
brick is laid in an irregular manner, and the roof is of heavy slate. A some
what Spanish touch is evident in the stuccoed outer wall of the vestry.
The nave, roof arches, hewn beams, oak paneling, and cloister are Gothic
in design.
R. from Howland Ave., on Washington Ave.
20. GROVEVILLE PARK (L), Washington Ave. and Park St., once
an amusement resort, is now the assembly grounds and cottage colony of
the Nazarene Camp Meeting Association. The park is owned and operated
by the Nazarene Society of the Nazarene Church. The members, recruited
from a wide area, gather here in large numbers during the summer months
to receive religious education and attend daily services. About 50 one-
room cottages are scattered about under the trees for the use of visitors
who have no camping equipment.
L. from Washington Ave. on Park St., keep R.; L. on Liberty St.
21. The GROVEVILLE FLATS (R), across the creek, are a nar
row flood plain of the Fishkill. The mill and tenant houses were erected
in 1873-75 by A. T. Stewart, merchant prince of Manhattan. The mills
were a carpet factory; but now they are occupied by several small manu
facturing concerns.
R. from Liberty St. on East Main St.
22. The EAST MAIN ST. BRIDGE (Fountain Square Bridge) of
fers a view of the Mill Rapids (R) at the center of the old mill district
of Matteawan. Factory walls rise abruptly from the Fishkill. The extensive
yellow brick buildings (R), formerly the plant of the Matteawan Manu
facturing Co., makers of wool hats, are now occupied by the Braendly Dye
Works.
L. from East Main St., on Main St., L. on Tioronda Ave., R. on Van
Nydvck St.
23. The BRETT-TELLER HOUSE (L), corner Van Nydeck St.
and Teller Ave., is the oldest standing building and one of the first to be
built (1709) in Dutchess County.
This home of romantic and historic memories is a noteworthy landmark
of the Hudson valley and a splendid example of the simple, solid Dutch
architecture of its period. It is a story-and-a-half high; three long, graceful
dormers on each side of the house, project from the gently sloping peaked
roof. The house has thick stone foundations ; and the frame of massive timbers
is held together by wooden pins. The main body of the house is sided with
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scalloped cedar shakes 4 feet long, varying from 5 to 9 inches in width
and fastened with handwrought nails. The east wing has wide clapboards.
The interior, staircase, and woodwork details are representative of the
better homes of the Colonial period. A mantel in the dining room is very
plain, with a fluted pattern beneath the shelf; another, which was put in
prior to 1800, replacing one faced with old Dutch tile, is of elaborate design
with marble facing. The dining room has two alcoves with graceful arched
and fluted columns. A large fireplace in the old beamed kitchen still has
the crane and large iron pot. The cellar door is hung on wooden hinges
and is fastened by a wooden latch which is lifted from the outer side by
a string.
The 4 acres of land on which the homestead stands was part of the large
tract of 85,000 acres acquired by Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck.
Verplanck died before the patent was issued. (See History.) Title to these
4 acres has never been transferred and still rests on the original patent. When
Francis Rombout died in 1691, his share of 28,000 acres "in the Wappings"
passed to his daughter, Catharyna, who married Roger Brett. (See Point of
Interest No. 12.) The Homestead is still owned and occupied by their
descendants.
After Roger Brett's early death, Madam Brett possessed and managed her
vast heritage. She presented a commanding figure as she rode on horseback
over her land, administering its affairs and promoting its development until
well advanced in years. On church and gala days she rode in her coach-and-
four, with three Negroes in attendance. She was a friend of the Indians, and
was active in community affairs, holding a partnership in the Frankfort Store
house, the region's first freighting establishment, at the Lower Landing. She
died in 1764 and was buried in the cemetery of the Dutch Church at Fishkill,
which she helped found. (See p. 82.) She left two sons, Francis and Robert.
During Revolutionary times the Homestead was occupied by Maj. Henry
Schenck, who in 1763 had married Hannah, daughter of Francis Brett and
granddaughter of Madam Brett. As Quartermaster in Washington's Army,
he stored military supplies here. The Homestead was then famed for its
hospitality and was a frequent resort of Army officers. Washington, La
fayette, Von Steuben, Abraham Yates, and other distinguished patriots
were guests.
The name Teller Homestead was applied to the house as a result of the
marriage of Alice Schenck, second daughter of Maj. Henry Schenck, to
Isaac dePeyster Teller in 1790. The latter purchased the property in 1800 in
the settlement of the estate of Major Schenck, who died in 1799. One of
Teller's daughters, Margaret Schenck Teller, who married Rev. Dr. Robert
Boyd Van Kleeck, inherited the Homestead, which upon her death in 1888
passed on to their daughter, Agnes Boyd Crary, wife of Rev. Dr. Robert
Fulton Crary, oldest grandson of Robert Fulton. It is now held in her
estate. The present occupants are the seventh generation in direct line to own
and occupy the Homestead.
75
R. from ran Nydeck St. on Teller Ave., which becomes Fishkill Ave.;
L. on Ver plane k Ave.
24. MATTEAWAN STATE HOSPITAL (R), Verplanck Ave. and
Canon St., (admission 1-4 weekdays only) is devoted to the incarceration and
treatment of the criminal insane. The buildings, which are on a reserva
tion of about 900 acres, reflect several periods of construction in their varied
but harmonious architecture. All are of red brick with many barred windows.
The main unit is in the state institutional, pseudo-Romanesque style. An
other unit has red tiled roofs ; and another has small, white-trimmed windows
and a gray slate roof of low gable. The officers' residence unit suggests
Elizabethan architecture with half-timbering and leaded windows. A farm
colony and various service buildings complete the plant.
The hospital contains 1,348 patients (Aug., 1936). Completion of the
building under construction will increase the capacity to 1,421. The number
of patients has been increasing at the rate of 30 to 40 annually.
Before the State acquired the property, it was the home and training
ground of the famous John J. Scanlon trotting horses, winners and record
holders of Hambletonian races. The Abbott (2:03^4) and Kentucky Union
(2:07j4) are buried beside the readjust back of the present fence. The
pyramid which marked their graves has been removed.
L. from Verplanck Ave., on North Ave.
25. The SOUTHERN DUTCHESS COUNTRY CLUB (R), fac
ing Verplanck Ave., has for its nucleus an old Dutch building; date of
erection is unknown. It is a low built, plain stone dwelling with a wide
sweep of roof and thick walls. Early in the 19th century, it was slightly
remodeled by John Peter DeWindt (see Point of Interest No. 3) for the
use of his son, and was called "Stone Cot."
At this point is a stretch of sandy beach, rare along the river. This is a
small popular bathing place. Benches and tables are provided for picnic
parties.
Straight on North Ave. to Bank Square.
Additional Points of Interest
26. EUSTATIA, on Monell Place, is the Monell-Van Houten House,
an Elizabethan-American country home built in 1867 by Andrew Jackson
Downing, the landscape artist and horticulturalist who was lost in the Henry
Clay steamboat disaster. This was Downing's first practical example of his
conception of an American country home. Downing's widow, who was a
daughter of John Peter DeWindt, married Judge John Monell.
A short distance S. of Eustatia stood the DeWindt house. DeWindt, who
was called "the Firebrand," was a West India trader, prominent in Hudson
River commerce, and helped to develop Fishkill Landing as a port. Under
his patronage, James Mackin, a poor boy, rose later to be Senator and
State Treasurer. Mackin's wife, nee Countess Sally Britton Spottiswood,
known as the "Belle of St. Louis," was an authoress and philanthropist. On
76
the DeWindt grounds lived Clarence Cooke, an art critic of the last century.
His studio, Copy Cotte, is now in ruins.
27. The BOGARDUS-DEWINDT-VAN HOUTEN HOUSE, 16
Tompkins Ave., is a picturesqne dwelling, almost hidden from view by
lilac bushes. Erected before 1800, it was first the home of Peter Bogardus, a
local merchant, was acquired by John Peter DeWindt about 1825 and
occupied by his widow ; and was later purchased by the Van Wagenen
family. It is a good example of the story-and-a-half frame Dutch homestead
of Revolutionary times. The house has interesting details of window frames,
original trim, and original fireplaces. Except for the addition of a wing and
dormers and the removal of a Dutch oven, it is little changed.
28. The KNEVELS-STEARNS HOUSE (Sunny Fields), 75 Knevels
Ave., erected in 1835, is a weathered shingle house of frame construction with
plain gabled roof. Gertrude Knevels, a modern novelist, lived here early
in the 20th century. According to tradition, the ghost of an Indian chief,
stalking from the trees under which he used to live, frequently visits the
grounds.
29. DENNINGS POINT was early known as "the island" in Fish-
kill Bay. It was in possession of Peter DuBois under a life lease from
Madam Brett. Later, when the DePeysters came into possession, it was
called DePeyster's Point. The Verplancks owned it for a time. William
Allen, a grandson of William Allen, founder of Allentown, Pa., built a
mansion here about 1814. Only the walls remain, on the high ground at the
center of the point. This house contained an octagonal room, an eccentric
form of architecture fashionable in that era. William Allen and his wife,
according to tradition, lived here in such a lavish scale of elegance and
hospitality that they became financially embarrassed. At the end of nine
years they were obliged to sell the estate to the Dennings, who built a cause
way to the mainland and called the promontory Presqu' lie (almost an
island). Denning's famous cider mill, a large brick structure, still stands on
the inner shore. Nearby is a fisherman's cottage ; and huge reels for shad nets
are spread on the stony beach where the shoals stretch out into the little
bay between the point and the mouth of Fishkill Creek. Washington was
in the habit of landing on this promontory after crossing from his head
quarters at Newburgh. Under large oaks on the river shore he found an
orderly waiting with his horse and rode to the highway leading to New
England.
The DENNINGS POINT BRICK WORKS, at the foot of Dennings
Ave., on the "neck" of the point, is one of the more complete and up-to-
date of the electrical machine-operated yards in America. This concern began
making the widely known Hudson River common brick here in 1880.
Nearby are sites of pioneer brickyards.
30. The HOWLAND LIBRARY, 477 Main St., was established in
1872. The brick building of the Norwegian chalet type was built from plans
brought to this country by General Howland. There are 15,000 volumes
available to the public.
77
31. The SURVEYOR'S OFFICE, 181 Main St., is probably the
oldest surveyor's office in continuous operation. It contains a file of old
deeds and maps, including local charts drawn by Simeon DeWitt, official
geographer of the Revolution.
Points of Interest in Environs
32. The CASINO, at the head of the Incline Railway (See Point of
Interest No. 16) , besides being famous as a resort, is noted for the view it
commands. Under the flank of the l,200-ft.-high mountain spur, the course
of the Fishkill can be traced to the bay. Southwest, the vista extends to
the north portal of the Hudson Highlands. To the west are Cornwall Bay,
Sleeping Indian Mountain, and the terraced city of Newburgh, backed by
Snake Hill. A blue barrier on the far horizon, the Shawangunk range forms a
curtain in the west. The 4,000-ft. crests of the Catskills loom in the north
west.
Rising still higher above the Casino is the crest of MOUNT BEACON
(1,500 alt.), reached by a foot trail, 1 m. This peak has gone by the names
of Solomon's Bergh, Beacon Hill, North Beacon, and Old Beacon. The name
"Beacon" dates back to 1777 when signal fires were lighted on the moun
tain as a means of communication with military outposts in Connecticut,
Westchester, and Sandy Hook. The city has borrowed the name of the
mountain. The summit duplicates the view obtainable at the Casino.
From Mount Beacon a trail extends to SOUTH BEACON PEAK (1,635
alt.), 1 m., the highest in the Highlands of the Hudson. It is called South
Beacon Hill by the United States Geological Survey, and was named New
Beacon or Grand Sachem in Hayward's Gazetteer of 1853. Hayward writes:
"The river is visible from West Point to Tappan Bay on the south, and for
an extent of 50 miles on the north. The surrounding rich and highly culti
vated country, dotted with villages, and wanting in nothing that renders so
extensive a landscape lovely, lies as a picture before the observer." From the
fire tower which rises 75 ft. above the summit, the skyscrapers of Manhat
tan are visible on exceptionally clear days. , The Empire State Building can
be seen with the naked eye, but binoculars are necessary to bring out the New
York outer and inner harbors.
78
VI LAGE of FISHKILL
*XS/>, 'V-x
I **&*== i +\
FISHKILL VILLAGE
Railroad Stations: New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. (freight only).
Busses: Beacon-Fishkill Bus Line, New York-Montreal Bus Line, Mohawk Bus Line.
Taxis: To Beacon, one to four passengers, $i ; each additional passenger, 2$c.
Accommodations: Union Hotel (E) ; Ye Olde Fishkill Inne (A and E) ; Elm Lodge
(A and E) ; Old Post Road Inn (A and E).
Recreation: Hiking trails over nearby mountains. Swimming in Fishkill and Clove
Creeks (stocked with fish). Skiing at Norway Ski Jump and on trails over the moun
tains.
Annual events: Middle Atlantic Ski-jumping Tournament, winter, when condition
of snow permits.
FISHKILL VILLAGE (200 alt., 553 pop.) is a residential community
at the junction of US 9 and State 52, 4.5 miles east of Beacon, 13.5 miles
south of Poughkeepsie. Sheltered by the sturdy Fishkill mountain range,
this secluded little village still pursues serenely the placid life of its Dutch
pioneers. Main Street, most important of the village thoroughfares, is broad
and gracious, arched by great elm trees. To the east and west of the re
stricted business section, stand fine old dwellings and historic churches.
Neat white houses, some with Dutch doorways opening upon the street,
lend an atmosphere of neighborliness suggestive of an earlier day. Several
more spacious mansions are set in deep lawns bordered by old fashioned
gardens and white picket fences. Among these relics of the past there are
few tokens of today's world and never an intimation of tomorrow's.
Fishkill was settled by the Dutch a few years after the granting of the
Rombout Patent in 1685. English colonists from Ulster County across
the river had seen the low, swampy land of the Fishkill valley and had
scornfully rejected it as worthless; but the Dutch, accustomed to the low
lands of their native country, were undaunted. Gradually they moved in,
cleared the wilderness, drained the swamps, and built their homes. To
the stream which flows through the valley they gave the name Vis Kil
(Dutch, fish creek), which, in its Anglicized form, Fishkill, was applied in
time to the village, the township, and the nearby mountains.
The first to occupy the land now comprised within the village limits
were Johannes Ter Boss and Henry Rosecrance, whose names appear in a
list of freeholders of Dutchess County prepared in 1740. Ter Boss was an
eccentric man. When a controversy arose in the Dutch church, Ter Boss
transferred to the Presbyterian church at BrinckerhofrVille, to which he
took his Negroes one Sabbath and sat among them, to the consternation of
the congregation.
The village probably owes its existence to the fact that here in 1731 the
settlers built their first church, in which on alternate Sabbath mornings
the people gathered for worship, many coming from as far as Hopewell
and New Hackensack. De Chastellux, the French traveler, who visited
79
Dutchess County 45 years later, found in Fishkill only one Dutch and one
English church, 12 to 14 dwellings, an inn, and a schoolhouse. Nevertheless,
he rated Fishkill as the only village in the county, outside of Poughkeepsie,
deserving mention.
This was Fishkill at the outbreak of the Revolution: in that struggle
the little village played an important part. It lay on the only practical
military route through the Highlands of the Hudson, as well as upon the
most direct route from the mid-Hudson valley to New England; it was
readily accessible to the river and to West Point; and it was the center of
a highly productive agricultural area capable of provisioning an army.
It was early anticipated that the British forces in New York would
attempt to establish direct communication with Quebec through the Hudson-
Champlain valleys and thereby isolate New England from the other rebellious
Colonies. Their path would lie through Wiccopee Pass, the narrow defile
immediately south of the village, which might easily be held by a small army
against a much larger attacking force. Quick to recognize its strategic import
ance, Washington had the pass fortified ; three batteries of artillery were sta
tioned there in 1776 and redoubts were built. On the plain to the east
ward of Fishkill, and across the creek, barracks were erected for the quarter
ing of troops, while Washington and his aides were quartered in and about
the village in homes, some of which still stand. Storehouses were built for
military supplies, and Fishkill became the military base and supply depot
for Dutchess County, and headquarters for a year of the State clothing
stores. On the good-hearted Dutch wives devolved the self-imposed task of
making additional clothes for the poorly clad soldiers and preparing supplies
for the military hospital.
The Dutch Church was converted into a prison in which Tories, deserters,
and British prisoners were confined. The English Church became the Army
hospital, in which victims of smallpox, then raging in the ranks, and men
wounded in the battle of White Plains, October 28, 1776, were cared
for. According to an eye-witness, after the White Plains engagement the
dead were piled like cordwood in the Fishkill street between the two
churches.
The New York Provincial Convention, evacuating New York City on
August 29, 1776, before the threatened invasion of the British, came to Fish-
kill. Its first sessions in the village were held September 5 of that year in
the English church, and later sessions were held in the more commodious
Dutch church until February, 1777, when it removed to Kingston.
To add to the burden of the villagers, numerous refugees, the "poor and
distressed," from New York and White Plains fled to Fishkill, where they
found asylum in the already overcrowded community. Among these was
Samuel Loudon, the Whig printer, who set up his press in the house of Robert
Brett (see Obadiah Bowne house, p. 84), and issued on October 1, 1776, the
first number of the New York Packet and American Advertiser, the first
newspaper to be printed in Dutchess County. In this house he also printed the
80
ISjflt
Reformed Dutch Church at Fis/ikill
Road t* old tending near motfth of Wapp'mger Creek
first copies of the Constitution of the State of New York, drawn up by John
Jay, the Journal of the Legislature, and most of Washington's military
orders. The State Constitutional Convention met in the Bowne house in
1776, and the following year ratified Jay's Constitution in Kingston.
Loudon continued his paper until the end of the war, when he returned to
New York.
After the war, the Dutch Church, emptied of its prisoners, was in such
disrepair, that it was deemed unfit for use as a House of God. Accordingly,
poor as they had become after bearing the burdens of war for seven years,
the congregation decided to rebuild their church. The work, begun in
1785, required 10 years to complete. All stone, timber, hauling, and labor
were donated by members of the congregation. When the building was half
done funds failed, and the villagers were obliged to borrow money from
their relatives in Long Island to carry on.
Although in 1789 Fishkill was considered important enough to be granted
a post office, one of but seven then in the State, it appears that from the
Revolutionary period to the Civil War the village grew slowly. The
construction of the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad in 1869 brought
the village a fresh impulse. A paper bag mill and other factories were
built and the town's population mounted to almost 1,000. At that time
Fishkill had four churches, a "select" school, a free school, two banks,
and a weekly newspaper. Such prosperity, however, was not destined to en
dure. Within four years the factories closed their doors, and in December,
1873, the year of the panic, a fire, said to have been the work of an incen
diary, destroyed many of the historic buildings. From this disaster Fishkill
never recovered. By 1880 its population had decreased to 800, and today
numbers but half that of 1870. The "select" school, one of the two banks,
and the weekly newspaper are gone, and only the churches, the free school,
and the savings bank remain. Most of the Revolutionary landmarks in the
vicinity of Fishkill are included in Tour No. 3.
Contemporary Fishkill is primarily the home of retired farmers and
professional and business men, and the village has known some development
as a suburb of Beacon. Foreign-born families, although they settle in the
countryside, have avoided the village itself.
FOOT TOUR (1 m.)
The tour begins at the western entrance to the village on Main St.
(State 52).
1. Adjoining the now unused airplane landing field (R) on the out
skirts of the village is the WHITE HOUSE (R), approached by a long,
straight, tree-lined driveway. Dr. Bartow White, who built it in 1805,
called it "Avenue Farm." A frame building, two stories high, with a
service wing at the east end, it is a good example of the Dutchess County
house of its period. Silver hardware w r as used throughout.
Dr. White served as a member of Congress from 1825 to 1827 and as
a presidential elector for New York State in 1840. In this house he reared
81
his ten children, one son and nine daughters, the last two of whom he
humorously named Octavia and Novenia.
On both sides of the street are substantial houses set in spacious grounds,
varying in architecture from the simple Dutch Colonial to the more ornate
style of the nineties.
2. The edge of the business section is marked by the small brick BANK
BUILDING (R), now Dean's, the shop of the village historian. The
building is little changed since the banking business was suspended in 1877.
3. East one-half block is the JAMES GIVEN HOUSE (L), a white
house with green shutters, and fenced along the street front by white
wooden pickets. It is a solid frame building of generous proportions. Its
doorway is Georgian, the pilasters of the frame grooved in the upper portion.
Given, the builder, came to Fishkill from Ireland in 1798. Prospering
as a merchant, he built this dwelling in 1811, naming it "Shillelagh," after
the town in which probably he was born. It is related that a bottle of wine
used in christening the house failed to break, an incident which was taken
to be an omen that the structure would never burn. The house was in fact
spared by the 1873 fire. Given's memory is also perpetuated in the elms
which he set out along Main Street the year he built his house.
4. The ELM at the entrance to VAN WYCK HALL (L) is the
pride of Fishkill. Planted about 1790, it now measures over 4 ft. in diam
eter. The hall is a large frame building used as a community center.
5. Across the street is the UNION HOTEL (R), a red brick build
ing occupying the site of an inn kept in Revolutionary days by James Cooper,
which may have been for a time the headquarters of Washington during the
encampment in the village. Prisoners of war were tried here. The inn
perished in the great fire.
6. Just beyond is YE OLDE FISHKILL INNE (R) formerly the
Mansion House, built by Cornelius Van Wyck in 1820. Though altered,
it retains its stout oak timbers, original doorway, and triple windows in each
gable end. Major Hatch, later manager of the Poughkeepsie Hotel (See
Poughkeepsie, p. 38) was the first host. Among the noted men who have
stopped here were President Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, Aaron Burr,
Washington Irving, and Benson J. Lossing.
7. Across the street is the REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH (L),
the embodiment of Fishkill's life and history. The oldest building in the
village, it was enlarged in 1785 around the original church of 1731. Decid
edly Dutch in character, it is a solid structure of stuccoed stone with brick-
trimmed corners. Its walls are 3 ft. thick, and its steeple, 128 ft. high, has
supported the same weather vane since 1795.
In 1716 a congregation was organized in Fishkill by the Rev. Petrus Vas,
fifth pastor at Kingston, in conjunction with one at Poughkeepsie. These
two congregations were in the charge of one pastor until 1772. In 1731
the members of the Fishkill congregation petitioned Governor Montgomery
for permission to solicit funds with which to build a church. Permission
was granted, and the church was immediately erected on land which was
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not formally deeded to the congregation until 1759. Early prints of this
building show a heavy rectangular stone edifice with a hip roof surmounted
at the middle by a bell-tower and weather vane. Window lights set in iron
sash frames were very small, and the upper story walls showed port holes,
used in defense against the Indians. Some of these port holes can still
be seen. Much of the labor on this structure was performed by slaves
of the settlers, and the materials came from the hills and fields about Fish-
kill.
One of the pastors of the church was the Rev. Isaac Rysdyck, who served
the congregation from 1765 to 1790 and whose reputation for learning and
charm long survived him. He lies buried in the churchyard of the Dutch
Church at New Hackensack. (See Tour 2, p. 113). In the Fishkill church
yard are tombstones with Dutch inscriptions which antedate the church.
The grave of Catharyna Rombout (Madam Brett), daughter of the patentee,
formerly in the cemetery, was enclosed under the pulpit when the church
was enlarged.
This church figures in Cooper's novel, The Spy, the hero of which, Harvey
Birch, was in real life Enoch Crosby, an American secret service agent,
Crosby was held here among Tory prisoners, whom he had tricked into
captivity, and by prearrangement with the guards was permitted to escape.
8. The BLODGETT MEMORIAL LIBRARY (R) stands across
the street a short distance beyond the church. This small stone building was
given to the village in 1934 by John Woods Blodgett in memory of his
father. It is an example of modern Colonial architecture. The library was at
first opposed, it is said, on the grounds that "everyone in town has a library
of his own."
9. The FISHKILL GRILL (R) on the SE. corner of the junction of
Main St. and US 9, is a lunch wagon of interest principally because it is
a stopping place of President Franklin D. Roosevelt when en route to or
from his Hyde Park home.
10. One block beyond US 9 is the historic TRINITY CHURCH (R),
erected in 1769 and known locally as the "English Church." It stands to
day, a Colonial frame structure, very little altered except that a tall steeple,
deemed unsafe, was removed in 1803. The high, many-paned windows
are noteworthy.
The church congregation was founded in 1756 by the Rev. Samuel Sea-
bury. In that year, Seabury, a missionary of the Society for the Propa
gation of the Gospel, came riding into the village of Fishkill on a sorrel
horse. Ordained a priest in 1730 by the Bishop of London, he had been
rector of an English church in Hempstead, Long Island, but disgusted
with the constant bickerings between his congregation and that of a
neighboring Dutch church, he resigned and set forth. In Fishkill the Dutch
received him cordially, readily granting his request to preach in their
church. It is said that more than 300 persons gathered from miles around to
hear his first sermon. He soon formed his own congregation, which in
cluded Dutchmen whom he had converted.
83
In 1776 Trinity Church, jointly with Christ Church of Poughkeepsie,
had the Rev. John Beardsley as its rector. (See Poughkeepsie, p. 38).
Another rector, the Rev. Philander Chase, who served here from
1797 to 1805, afterward became Bishop of Ohio and of Illinois and founded
Kenyon College in Ohio and Jubilee College in Illinois. The son of the
founder of the church, also named Samuel Seabury, became the first Epis
copal Bishop in the United States. This name and line are carried on by
Justice Samuel Seabury of New York City.
The gravestones in Trinity churchyard date back to 1770; many Revolu
tionary soldiers and their enemies were buried here side by side in unmarked
graves. A vault contains the bodies of several members of the family of
Gulian Verplanck, one of the three joint holders of the Rombout Patent.
Gulian Verplanck, grandson of the patentee, presented to this church and
to the Dutch Church identical tankards, which are still used in the celebra
tion of the Lord's Supper. These tankards are inscribed in memory of Engle-
bert Huff, a Norwegian, who, once attached to the Life Guards of the Prince
of Orange, died in Fishkill at the age of 128 years. A story is still in circula
tion that when Huff was 121, he and a young man, 100 years his junior,
simultaneously courted the same young lady. The story does not relate which
of the lady's suitors won her favor.
11. At the English Church, Main St. curves R. The OBAD1AH
BOWNE HOUSE (L), now a frame structure, vacant, stands on a steep
bank beside the railroad crossing. Obadiah Bowne built the house in 1818.
It is set in a grove of old trees, which include a red beech reputed to be
the first in the locality. The elaborate detail of the mantels and interior
wood trim show, according to an authority, the hand of a traveling carpenter
who was hired at a dollar a day plus board and lodging.
A plaque set in a boulder in front of the house was placed conjointly
by the Melzingah Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
and the State of New York to commemorate the uses of a previous house,
which stood here during the Revolution. In this earlier house, owned by
Robert Brett, son of Madam Brett, Samuel Loudon, the patriot printer,
lived and worked, and here the State Constitutional Convention first met.
Later the building served as the first post office in Fishkill.
The junction with US 9 marks the end of the foot tour.
84
DUTCHESS COUNTY
MOTOR TOURS
NOTE ON MOTOR TOURS
Motor tours are divided into sections for the tourist's convenience; at
the beginning of each section it is necessary to set the speedometer at
o.o m. Such parts of the tours as are on the main route are printed in
larger type. Side-trips, leaving the main route, usually for only a few
miles, are in smaller type, indented. The mileage on the side-trips is
computed from the point of leaving the main route, which point is con
sidered as o.o m. Upon returning to the main route, it is necessary to set
the speedometer back to the main-route mileage given for that point
in the text.
TOUR No. 1
Poughkeepsie Hyde Park Rhinebeck Red Hook Pine Plains Amenia
Millbrook Washington Hollow Pleasant Valley Poughkeepsie. US
9, State 199, US 44.
Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie, 77.2 m.
The road in section a is 3-lane concrete; section b, 2-lane macadam;
section c, 3-lane concrete. Between Poughkeepsie and Red Hook, local
and interstate busses; in other sections, local busses.
This route follows main roads through northern Dutchess, exhibiting
the variety of interests offered by the county. It winds up the historic
86
L..
/
J
>
3f
I 1
*
Hudson valley through sleepy villages, past grand estates, and between
orchards of apple trees; then sweeps east across northern and southwest
across central Dutchess through a typical rolling and hilly countryside de
voted to dairying and a quiet life.
Section a. PoughkeepsieRed Hook. US 9. 21.6 m.
From the Court House, Main and Market Sts., Poughkeepsie, the route
turns W . on Main St. toward the river, and R. on Washington St. (US 9).
This section follows the heavily traveled Hudson valley route between
New York and Albany. Today the highway runs well above the river-
level. In an earlier day, when river transportation was of primary import
ance, the road dipped down at intervals to the villages along the water
front ; these sections of the old Post Road are now side-roads leading to such
sleepy villages as Camelot, Chelsea, and Staatsburg.
The road on the east shore of the Hudson was first laid out from King's
Bridge, New York, to the ferry opposite Albany, following closely an Indian
trail which had existed long before the coming of the white man. Begun
in the reign of Queen Anne, the road was at first known as the Queen's
Road, later as the King's Highway, and since the Revolution as the Albany
Post Road.
The heavy traffic includes not only private cars and busses, but also a
large number of trucks; much of the New York City milk supply is shipped
along this route. Day-driving is not dangerous or unpleasant, but at night,
when a majority of trucks do their traveling, caution is necessary.
At 1.6 m. is the entrance (L) to WOODCLIFF RECREATION
PARK, the principal playground of Poughkeepsie. Shaded picnic grounds, an
outdoor boxing arena, an outdoor dance floor, and a modern swimming pool
(adults 25c, children 15c, including lockers) are among the facilities offered.
Overlooking the Hudson, the pool is supplied by a continuous flow of filtered
river water.
In the 1860's this was the estate of John F. Winslow, partner in a
large iron foundry at Troy, holder of the first American rights for the
manufacture of Bessemer steel, and staunch patron of John Ericsson. Plans
for Ericsson's Monitor, the famous "cheesebox on a raft," were drawn in
Winslow's home, now the Park Inn.
At 1.9 m. is the entrance (R) to the HUDSON RIVER STATE HOS
PITAL, an institution for the insane opened in 1871. It has 83 buildings
and occupies 1,730 acres. Twenty-eight doctors and 1,100 employees care for
an average of 4,400 patients. Ample provision has been made for the practice
of recreational therapy.
At 2.9 m. is the entrance (L) to the estate of Miss Ellen Roosevelt,
cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The house, 500 ft. from the road, is not
visible from the highway.
The ST. ANDREW'S NOVITIATE (L), trains young men for
service in the Jesuit Society. Established in Maryland in 1833, the Novitiate
was moved to its present location in 1903. The wooded grounds surround
ing the five-story, red brick building are dotted with shrines.
87
North of this point, between the highway and the Hudson River, are
large, well-kept estates hidden by trees. To the right are farms on gently
rising hills. Old trees raise a green arch over the Post Road as it crosses
a broad plain, still called by its 18th century name, the Flats. The plain
was once thickly forested and some of the early woodland remains, especially
several magnificent oaks. Portions of the cleared ground have been under
cultivation since before the Revolution. The broad lawns, tilled fields, and
meadows have been likened to the countryside of southern England, the
riverside mansions to the manors of the English gentry. Westward, ter
races drop from the tableland to the river's edge, and the heights com
mand a view of the Hudson as it sweeps southward into the LONG REACH,
the 11 -mile straight sailing course from Hyde Park to New Hamburg, name3
in 1609 by Robert Juet in his log of the Half Moon and known to the
Dutch as the Lange Rak.
At 4.4 m. is the ESTATE OF MRS. JAMES R. ROOSEVELT (L),
widow of the half-brother of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The two-story clap-
boarded house, painted dark red with black trim, is visible through the trees.
It was built between 1833 and 1835 by Joseph Giraud, but the original plan
of the interior, with a central hall and stairway and two rooms on each side,
was modified late in the 19th century.
Included in the Great Nine Partners Patent of 1697, the land was first
settled in 1748 by Charles Crooke, a New York merchant, who came here
to remove his blind son from the difficulties of city life. Within the next
75 years the estate changed hands several times. Edward and Joseph Giraud
and Henry Kneeland, New York merchants, held the property until 1852,
when it was purchased by Mrs. Walter Langdon (Dorothea Astor) for
her daughter. James Roosevelt acquired the estate in 1868, leaving it to
his son, James R. Roosevelt, whose widow is the present owner.
At 4.7 m. is the entrance (L) to CRUM ELBOW, the estate of Mrs.
Sara Delano Roosevelt and the birthplace and home of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. The entrance can be identified by a red sandstone marker, the
86th milestone from New York, which stands at the left of the road
between this and the James R. Roosevelt property. (This marker is one
of a series of sandstone tablets, now encased in fieldstones, which were
erected in the 18th century along the route from lower Broadway, New York,
to Albany). A guardhouse, in which state troopers are stationed when the
President is in residence, stands inside the gate.
When there are no leaves on the trees a glimpse of the house can be
caught from the highway. It stands at the edge of a steep, wooded slope
overlooking the river. Southward is a sweeping view of the Hudson and
the two bridges at Poughkeepsie. Groups of old trees shade the lawns,
with hedges of dense hemlocks and rhododendrons on the north.
The house, built in 1748-51 by Charles Crooke, is a typical country
residence of its period, 3 stories high and stuccoed, to which a semi-formal
front and two stone wings have been added. A flagged and balustraded
terrace leads to the curved Doric portico fronting the original building.
Milestone near en
trance 1 to Crum
Elbow
Entrance
Drive to the
Roosevelt
Estate
Crum Elbow, the Roosevelt Estate
The balustraded deck on the rooftop is a copy of the "Captain's walk"
commonly found on houses in New England ports. The projecting wings,
of gray stone 2 stories high, are crowned with simple cornice and balus
trade. On the first story of the north wing is an arcade, in one aperture
of which hangs an old Spanish bell. Around the house is a mass of ever
greens, ivy, and honeysuckle.
The interior is simple and dignified. The library, in the south wing, is
a large paneled room, with carved mantels at each end; the walls are
covered with prints of figures in American naval history and early battles.
The family interest in the sea finds further expression in the valuable col
lection of books on naval history. The west windows of the library over
look the lawn and the river. On the screened porch at the south of the
library stands the tiller wheel of U. S. S. Gloucester, which took part in the
battle of Santiago in 1898. The wheel was also used on the Mayflower, the
presidential yacht during the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt, William
H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.
At 5.6 m. is the entrance (L) to CRUMWOLD, the Col. Archibald
Rogers estate. The son, Herman Rogers, present owner of the estate, was
born here. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Rogers have for many years been friends
of Mrs. Wallis Simpson, and during the crisis that resulted in the abdication
of Edward VIII, entertained her in their villa in Cannes.
HYDE PARK, 5.8 m. (150 alt., 738 pop.).
Railroad Station: New York Central, .4 m. W. of center of village.
Busses: Twilight Bus Line, New York-Montreal Bus Line, Hyde Park Bus Line.
Accommodations: Zeph Hotel.
Hyde Park, founded in 1741, was originally known as Stoutenburg for
Judge Jacobus Stoutenburgh, Gentleman, the first white settler. Later, the
name was changed to Hyde Park, in compliment to Edward Hyde, Lord
Cornbury, who was Governor of the Province of New York from 1702 to
1708.
The village lies on a plateau at the edge of a bluff a half-mile from the
Hudson. On all sides except the west, it is hemmed in by landed estates.
Crum Elbow Creek forms the north village line. The older houses are neat,
well-kept frame buildings clustered near the crossroads. East of the village and
roughly paralleling the highway, an outcrop of Hudson River shale topped
by a scanty growth of scrub oaks forms a rugged background.
The village founder, a religious refugee and heir to a large estate, came
from Holland at the beginning of the 18th century, moved north from
Westchester and built three stone houses near Hyde Park village, on the tract
known as the Nine Water Lots, one of which he owned. The big house of
the Stoutenburghs and its extensive servants' quarters stood west of Park
PL near Market St. Stoutenburgh erected a dock and boat-landing by the
river on the site of the present landing. In October, 1777, the village was
cannonaded by Gen. Sir John Vaughn as he retired down the Hudson after
burning Kingston; marines came ashore to plunder and punish the Whigs,
burned Stoutenburgh's landing, a shop, and an Army storehouse, and de
parted.
89
In the 19th century Hyde Park was the home port of sturgeon fishermen.
The fish were dumped in pens anchored near the village shore; the meat was
shipped to Albany to be sold as "Albany beef"; the roe was prepared here
for exportation. Porpoises and shad were also attracted by the reefs and
natural breeding grounds along the river. An occasional whale sent the entire
local fleet in a chase upstream.
Throughout the two centuries of its existence, Hyde Park has witnessed
the comings and goings of many celebrities and men who have been promi
nent in governmental affairs: Alexander Hamilton spent much time here;
Washington Irving was an intimate friend of James Kirke Paulding, who
lived nearby; Morgan Lewis, the Livingstons, the Pendletons, and Dr.
Bard, founder of Bard College, were guests or residents.
One block S. of the crossroads is the JAMES ROOSEVELT ME
MORIAL LIBRARY (L), Colonial in design, built in 1927 with stone
from the Roosevelt estate. The library was given to the village by Mrs.
Sara Delano Roosevelt in memory of her husband. Among the books on
the shelves is a compilation of town records by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Just W. of the crossroads (L) stands a building, now used in part as a
plumber's shop, which was a 19th century inn. A long upper porch over
looks the road ; a covered way leads through the lower story to an open
yard and sheds where the horses of the Post Road stage-coaches were changed.
North of the crossroads, on US 9, is the REFORMED CHURCH (R),
established in 1789. The white frame building of simple Colonial design,
with a square tower over the main entrance, has high, arched windows at the
front and old-fashioned small panes and memorial windows at the sides and
rear. In the yard behind the church, grave markers date back to that of
"Mr. Noah Bunnel, 1790."
At 6.8 m. is the ornate stone entrance (L) to the estate of F. W. Vander-
bilt.
At 7 m. is ST. JAMES' CHURCH (R), built in 1844 and long at
tended by the Roosevelt family. English Gothic in style and set back from
the road in a handsome grove of trees, it has the grave dignity and beauty
of its forebears in the English shires. The chief feature of the front is a
tall, square tower, with a low pitched roof that is more Italian than English.
The interior, consisting of a nave and chancel, without aisles, is plastered,
and has simple woodwork in black walnut, and hammer-beam trusses. The
first two windows, with clear diamond panes, are from the original church,
built in 1811. Two others, of simple stained glass, were brought from the
Church of the Ascension in New York City.
Dr. Samuel Bard, a famous New York physician and president of
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, donated land for the
first structure. The tract had been granted to his family by Queen Anne.
The 125th anniversary of the founding of St. James' Parish and the erection
and consecration of the original church was celebrated October 25, 1936,
at a service attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his family.
North of Hyde Park the contrast between the formal estates and the
90
natural beauty of the countryside is striking. The highway here is flanked
by concrete and steel fences.
At 7.5 m. is the SITE OF PLACENTIA (L), the home of James
Kirke Paulding, Secretary of the Navy under Martin Van Buren. Paulding
was Washington Irving's biographer and collaborated with him in the
Salmagundi Papers, a satirical literary periodical published in 1807. He was
author of many books and for a time an editorial writer for the New York
Evening Post under William Cullen Bryant. The house was occupied by
Paulding from 1846 until his death in 1860.
A view of ST. JOSEPH'S NOVITIATE (L), across the Hudson River,
appears at 9.1 m. The massive stone structure, with its many spires, is situ
ated on a high bluff overlooking the river. Since bluff and river are invisible
from the road, St. Joseph's appears to be across the meadow.
MARGARET LEWIS NORRIE STATE PARK, 9.5 m. (L), was
donated to New York State by Geraldine Morgan Thompson in memory
of her sister, Margaret Lewis Norrie. The 312 acres of ground, with
wooded hills, slope down from the highway to the river front. In 1937 a
large Civilian Conservation Corps Camp housed the young men who were
developing the area into a recreational center. Plans have been drawn for a
large swimming pool ana 1 picnic grounds with parking fields, and paths
radiating from the highway to the Hudson River.
At 9. 75 m. is junction (L) with the old Post Road, macadam. (See
Tour No. 1A.)
US 9 swings R. up a long, easy grade with views left across the meadows
to the river. Twenty miles away tower the Catskill Mountains, their rounded
blue bulk filling the Northwest horizon.
At 13.1 m., north of a white mansion, is the PARTHENON (R), a
small wooden reproduction of the Greek temple. It was built by J. W.
Gardner, a corporation lawyer, and houses his valuable law library. A col
lection of first editions of Blackstone is shown occasionally to visitors. Behind
the Parthenon is an original Dutch windmill, imported from Holland.
The Rhinebeck line is crossed at 16.3 m.
At 16.4 m. is the junction (L) with the OLD MILL ROAD.
Left on this dirt road is GRASMERE (Fox Hollow School), .75 m. (L),
the home of the late Maunsell Crosby. The dignified mansion of red brick
overlooks wide lawns and rolling wooded hills extending toward the
Hudson. This was the birthplace of W. A. Duer, president of Columbia
College (1829-1842).
Grasmere was begun in 1773 by Gen. Richard Montgomery and completed
by his wife after his death. The many locust trees on the grounds grew
from seeds scattered by Mrs. Montgomery in her walks about the estate.
In 1828, the 7oo-acre estate was purchased by Peter H. and Lewis
Livingston, who lived here until 1850. It was purchased by Mrs. Fanny
Crosby in 1894. It is now a private school for girls.
Beyond the Fox Hollow School is ELLERSLIE, 2.7 m., the former home
of Levi P. Morton, elected Vice President of the United States in 1888
and Governor of New York State in 1894. The home is now occupied
by his daughter, Miss Helen Morton.
91
WILDERCLIFF, 4. m. (R), is an estate owned by R. B. Suckley. The
name is an example of the fusion of the Dutch and English forms in
many place names in the Hudson Valley. With slight variations in spell
ing, it appears to have clung to the estate for 200 years, and may have
had its origin in the Dutch wilden, wild men or savages, and clif, old
Dutch for rock.
On the northern end of the river cove on the estate is an INDIAN
PICTURE ROCK, dating from at least 1686, when the Indians sold the
land. Originally the rock showed a cutting of two Indian warriors ; to
day only one figure can be seen. The tomahawk which was in the left
hand is gone, but the calumet in the right hand can still be made out.
The carvings were apparently chipped in the rock by a tool with rotary
motion. The picture rock is difficult of access and can be reached only
by canoe or by wading knee-deep through water.
RHINEBECK, 16.9 m. (203 alt., 1,569 pop.).
Railroad Station: At Rhinecliff.
Ferry: Rhinecliff.
Bus Line: Twilight Bus Line.
Accommodations and Information: Beekman Arms Hotel.
Motion Picture House: One.
As it approaches Rhinebeck, the road is bordered by large shade trees. The
village has an air of age and substance, with dignified buildings close to the
highway. In 1670 William Beekman, an employee of the Dutch West India
Co., purchased land in this vicinity. In 1697 his son, Henry, secured a patent
for a vast tract of land lying opposite Esopus Creek, which included the site
of Rhinebeck. This section of the land passed to William Traphagen in
1700. Among the early settlers, mainly French Huguenots and Dutch, was a
group of Palatines, who are credited with naming the village for Rheinbach,
a village in the Rhine valley. Other sources give the name as a German
combination meaning "Rhine-like" ; still others contend it is of local inven
tion and merely means "Beekman 's Rhine."
Early in the 18th century the village was a change station for stage-coaches;
during the Revolution it was an active military center. Modern Rhinebeck
is engaged in dairy farming and fruit raising. The cultivation of violets, for
many years an important industry in this section, recently declined, but is
again on the rise.
In RHINEBECK CEMETERY (L), at the extreme southern end of
the village and bordering US 9, is the grave of Levi P. Morton.
VINCENT ASTOR CONVALESCENT SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
(L) is at the southern end of the village. It was established in 1901 at
Rhinecliff by Miss Mary Morton, daughter of Levi P. Morton, to provide
a suitable environment and recreation for convalescent under-privileged
children of New York City, and was later taken over by the Vincent Astor
family, patrons of Rhinebeck, who moved it to its present location.
Built in 1809, the REFORMED CHURCH (R), on US 9, one block
S. of the village center, is painted white, except for the ivy-covered north
side and the brown cornice and blinds. The south end has a pediment with a
bulls-eye filled with louvres, surrounded by a wooden tower and belfry. On
92
this side are both round and elliptical arches, with the usual Colonial key
stones ; while the east and west sides have high windows with pointed arches
and interesting sectional outside blinds.
The sides of the building facing the two streets are of brick, while the east
side, away from the road, is of stone. According to local tradition, this con
struction grew out of a dispute between factions as to which material should
be used. Those who could furnish stone did so and demanded that the
building be built of stone ; others who could furnish money demanded brick
construction. They compromised.
The history of the church goes back to 1730. In that year Henry Beekman
gave a deed for 2 acres of land to the inhabitants of North Ward (Rhine-
beck) for the purpose of erecting a church or meeting house within 3 years;
and he gave the minister, elders, and deacons the right to cut timber or
carry away stones from his land. In accordance with the provisions, a church
was completed in 1733. Henry Beekman was buried in 1776 in the church
of which he was the benefactor.
The BEEKMAN ARMS HOTEL, at the SW. corner of the intersection
of US 9 and State 308, is the largest and most prominent building in the
village. It claims to be the oldest operating hotel in the United States. The
original inn was a one-story stone house with two rooms and a loft, built
shortly after 1700 by William Traphagen on this land which he bought that
year. His grandson, Arent Traphagen, enlarged the business, which at his
death in 1769 occupied a building 2 stories high and covered the area of the
present main structure. It was built like a fortress, with heavy stone walls;
and the arrangement of the cellar indicates that it was intended to serve
that purpose. The present third story was added in 1865. The wooden wing
on the north, the brick wing on the south, and the pillared portico across
the front are later additions. The original building is stuccoed, painted white,
producing a harmonious general effect. The modern taproom has a fire
place said to date back to the original building. The entrance hall retains
its old beamed ceiling, but the post and knees ostensibly supporting it are
apparently modern. During its long history the hotel has entertained such
distinguished guests as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron
Burr, De Witt Clinton, and Theodore Roosevelt. Adjoining the hotel on
the S. is a courtyard, used during the Revolutionary War as a parade and
training ground for soldiers.
The BOWERY HOUSE, a short distance E. (R) on State 308, is a
frame structure painted yellow, with brown trim and small-paned windows.
The main entrance is set off by a porch with Doric columns.
This inn was erected about 1800 on the land of the Old Dutch Church,
which served as the dominie's farm (Dutch, bouwerie). Abram Brinckerhoff,
the first proprietor, was succeeded by Pieter Pultz, after whom it is often
called the Pultz Tavern. It was once the stopping place of the Yellow Bird
Coach line, and rivalled in fame the old hotel (Beekman Arms) on the Post
Road.
Right from the center of the village runs State 308, an alternate route
93
between US 9 and State 199. This new concrete road winds through a
thinly settled farming country, the wooded sections interspersed with
small truck farms.
At 5.2 m. is the entrance (R) to LAKE SEPASCO (open), with an
area of 25 acres. CAMP RAMAPO is located on the southern tip of the
lake. Large picnic grounds surround the lake, which is ideal for swim
ming and fishing. Boats may be hired at the northern end of the lake.
At ROCK CITY, 6.5 m. is junction with State 199. (See section b.)
The CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH (R), just above the intersection,
is a low stone structure, Gothic in style, artistically comparable to St. James'
Church at Hyde Park. Built in 1897 with funds donated by the family of
John Jacob Astor, it was designed by Stanford White as a miniature of an
English cathedral. Episcopal in faith, the church is a center of worship for
the owners of estates in the region, and serves as music center for the village.
At 16.9 m. is the junction (L) with a dirt road. (See Tour No. IB).
At 17 m. is the NORTHERN DUTCHESS HEALTH CENTER
(L), a red brick structure of the hospital type, which was built in 1931.
Thomas Thompson of Boston, a frequent visitor in Rhinebeck, founded the
Center 35 years ago. It is operated by a board of managers under the Thomp
son Trust and maintains clinics and emergency and isolation wards for the
northern towns of the county. Miss Helen Morton donated the operating
room in memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Levi P. Morton.
Opposite the Health Center are the ETHAN COONS GREEN
HOUSES (R). The plant consists of 25 greenhouses which specialize in
double English violets. It serves a nation-wide market ; flowers are sent by
air to points west of the Mississippi. The Princess Mary, a semi-double,
dark violet was developed here.
Just beyond the greenhouses, a road runs R. to where the Dutchess County
Fair is held during the first week' in September. The chief attractions are
the agricultural exhibits in which the juvenile grange and 4-H clubs join.
Special features of the fair are the horse and automobile races.
At 17.3 m. US 9 enters ASTOR FLATS, a 2-mile straightaway used
20 years ago as a testing ground for automobiles. It is a section of the vast
local estate of Vincent Astor; the house and outbuildings lie on the river
front. Tenant farmers care for the fruit orchards and guard the wooded
game preserve.
At 19.4 m. the road curves around the yellow, somber Evangelical Luth
eran Church of St. Peter the Apostle, known for more than a century as the
OLD STONE CHURCH (L). The edifice was built in 1730. In 1729,
Lutheran residents in that neighborhood applied to Gilbert Livingston, the
husband of Cornelia Beekman, for a lot for a church near "Kirchehoek,"
and near the Old German Church, then standing. Livingston gave the site
upon which the stone church was built and also that of the adjoining
cemetery, providing in the deed that the land should forever be used for
church purposes only. The oldest stone in the cemetery, dated Jan. 25, 1733,
is that of Carl Neher, who was actively employed in the building of the
94
early church. In 1824 the church was remodeled and enlarged and its present
tower added.
North of the Old Stone Church, US 9 passes through a wide and level
area of rich soil devoted to the apple and grape industry. Orchards line the
highway at intervals from Rhinebeck north to the county line. This is a
favorite drive in the spring when the trees are in bloom. In late summer
innumerable roadside stands carry on a brisk trade in vegetables, fruits, and
preserves.
RED HOOK, 21 2 m. (200 alt., 996 pop.).
Railroad Station: New York Central at Barrytown, 3 m. W.
Bus Line: Twilight Bus Line.
Accommodations: Red Hook Hotel.
Motion Picture House: One.
The first settlers in this region were Dutch, who came to what is now
Upper Red Hook, 3 miles N. of the present village, between 1713 and
1727. As the result of a village quarrel, the postmaster moved the office
to the site of the present village. The name is said to have been given
the region by early Dutch navigators, who saw a hillside covered with red
berries near Tivoli and called the place Roode Hoeck. The village is today
the center of the northern Dutchess fruit belt.
The RED HOOK COLD STORAGE CO. WAREHOUSE (R), just
S. of the railroad tracks, has a capacity of 80,000 barrels. Apples are trucked
to New York City and shipped all over the world. The production of cider
and vinegar is an important industry.
Opposite the Methodist Church on W. Market St. is a VILLAGE
BLACKSMITH SHOP, now a rarity. The low, one-room building is
cluttered with discarded horseshoes and iron work. The smith in charge
remembers coach-and-four days and will talk of them.
At traffic light, 21 .6 m., the route turns R. on State 199. (See Section b.)
For continuation of US 9 to county line see Tour No. 1C.
Section b. Red Haok Junction State 199 and US 44. State 199. 23.5 m.
This section, across northern Dutchess, leads through a hilly region marked
by self-contained hamlets, fruit orchards, and summer camps. The social life
of the little agricultural communities centers in the grange hall and the
church. Several high elevations along the route offer expansive views of
the countryside.
From traffic light in Red Hook the route turns R. on State 199.
The RED HOOK COUNTRY CLUB, 3.3 m. (R), is a private club
with an excellent 18-hole golf course and boating facilities.
At 4 m. is the junction with State 308 in ROCK CITY (360 alt.,
75 pop.), a cross-roads hamlet named for the deep ravine on the edge of the
village, through which a brook flows.
At 8.1 m. is the entrance (L) to MARKS MEMORIAL CAMP OF
THE TRIBUNE FRESH AIR FUND, sponsored by the New York
Herald-Tribune. Throughout the summer, groups of under-privileged New
York children enjoy two-week vacation periods here.
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LA FAYETTEVILLE, 8.8 m. (700 alt., 25 pop.), a one-street village
with a few houses on each side and a country store, was named in honor of
the Marquis de La Fayette. LA FAYETTEVILLE HOUSE (L), so
named in 1824, is a weather-beaten clapboard structure with first- and
second-story rickety white porches running across the front of the building.
This house was a famous relay station and overnight stop for post riders
before the railroad era.
At 11.6 m. is the CHRISTIAN CHURCH (R), dedicated in 1859. This
white frame building is one of the many churches which sprang up in the
boom times of the railroad era following 1850, and remained standing in
secluded spots long after the people who worshipped in them had moved to
larger villages. The building is now used as a storehouse and garage.
At 14.5 m. is junction with dirt road.
Right, on the road, is STISSING LAKE, .75 m., with Stissing Mt. (1,440
ft.) in the background. The road around the lake, which is bordered by
wild flowers and mountain laurel, passes a large summer camp for
Jewish people. The lake affords excellent small-mouthed bass and
pickerel fishing. There are public beaches and boat liveries.
PINE PLAINS, 15.3 m. (474 alt., 500 pop.).
Busses: Mid-County Bus Line.
Accommodations: Stissing House.
Motion Picture House: One.
Recreation: Small-mouthed bass and pickerel fishing in Mud and Miller lakes nearby.
Pine Plains is a peaceful country village built around a crossroads. Main
St. (State 82) runs N. and S., crossing State 199 at traffic light. The homes,
surrounded by wide, shady lawns, are set well back from the broad street.
The stone TOWER surmounted by the village clock, on Main St. just
R. of intersection, is a memorial to Dr. Henry C. Wilber, a physician who
practiced here from 1887 to 1919.
The COLE PHARMACY (L), on Main St., houses the FIRST PUB
LIC LIBRARY in Dutchess County, which has been located in the same
building since it was established in 1797.
The ENO LAW OFFICE, Main St. (L), a one-story, yellow clapboard
structure, was erected in 1814 by Stephen Eno, celebrated Dutchess County
jurist who is said to have worn knee breeches and his hair tied in a queue,
after the manner of the 18th century gentleman, until his death in 1854
at the age of ninety.
State 82 (Main St.), known as the Central Dutchess Highway, follows the
E. bank of Wappinger Creek to a junction with US 44. (See Tour No.
i D.)
Beyond Pine Plains, State 199 ascends gradually through a narrow,
wooded, sparsely settled valley.
At 18.9 m. is a rear view of the Dutchess hills backed by the glimmering
Hudson and the bulk of the Catskill Mountains, 35 m. W.
At 23.5 m. is junction with US 44. The main route turns R. on US 44.
Left on US 44 is MILLERTON, 1.3 m. (600 alt., 919 pop.).
Railroad Station: New York Central R, R. (Harlem Valley Division), daily passenger
and freight trains,
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Accommodations: Brick Block Hotel.
Millerton derived its name from a contractor named Miller, who built
the railroad through the village in 1845, and established his headquar
ters here. Millerton has a bustling business section and is a distribution
center for a large dairy region, shipping the product by railroad and
truck to New York City.
The village lies at the foot of the TACONIC TRI-STATE PARK, a
recreation area 20 m. long, on the Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New
York borders. Most of the New York section lies in Columbia County,
immediately North.
North on Maple Ave. is RUDD POND CAMPSITE, 2 m., with foot
trails, picnic grounds, and campsites along the shore of Rudd Pond, a
75-acre lake with canoe, boat, and fishing facilities, and hiking trails.
Sites and tents may be rented nearby. Hills east of the lake have been
planted with young pines; imported sand placed by CCC workers during
1935-36 has transformed the muddy lake shore into an ideal bathing
beach.
South on Maple Ave. is INDIAN LAKE, J m., most of its 2-m. length
in Connecticut; fishing and picnics.
Section c. Junction State 199 and US 44- Washington Hollow Pough-
keepsie. US 44. 322 m.
Unexpected curves and patched macadam on most of route. The New
York Central R. R. (Harlem Valley Division) parallels the route to
Amenia.
US 44 is a direct route from the Berkshires to the West. The Dutchess
Turnpike, predecessor of US 44, was surveyed in 1802, and was completed
from Litchfield, Conn., to Poughkeepsie in 1805. Since the days of the stage
coach, traffic over this route has increased in response to changing modes of
transportation, until today the road is an important link between the East and
the West. It has a gradual descending grade from 900 ft. to tidewater
level. The highway at first winds through the beautiful Harlem valley,
flanked on both sides by mountain ranges. Small farming communities on
the floor of the valley present a contrast to the wild beauty of the wooded
slopes.
From junction of State 199 and US 44, the route turns R. on US 44.
AMENIA, 6.8 m. (573 alt., 1,560 pop.).
Railroad Station: New York Central (Harlem Valley Division).
Busses: Harlem Valley Bus Line.
Accommodations: Amenia Inn, De La Vergne Farms Hotel.
Dr. Thomas Young, a local poet, in 1762 named the village from the
Latin word "Amoena," meaning "a pleasant place."
The growth and development of the village was largely determined by
its location at a focal point for routes south and west. Here taverns and
stables sprang up, and dwellings followed. Then came the discovery of iron
in the mountains; and, with limestone for flux at hand, the community soon
developed industrially. The Amenia Iron Co. mines, now abandoned, on
the west bounds of the village, were an important factor in the growth. The
present prosperity of Amenia is based on its excellent farm lands. Some of
the most prosperous dairy farms of the county are within the township. The
97
mountains afford little hunting but the small, rapid streams are well stocked
with trout and attract many anglers in the fishing season.
The GRANGE HALL, Main St., is a popular social center.
AMENIA HIGH SCHOOL stands on the site of the Amenia Seminary,
a Methodist school established in 1835. The Seminary existed for 53 years;
students enrolled from every State in the Union.
At center of village is junction with State 200.
Left on State 200 is TROUTBECK, .75 m., the estate of J. E. Spingarn,
nationally known critic, famous as the place where many authors have
gathered and written. Here Luther Burbank spent much time and wrote
the introduction to Charles Benton's book Troutbeck.
At 3.5 m. is the NEW YORK-CONNECTICUT STATE LINE. Before
the boundary was definitely settled (see p. ), the settlers in the doubt
ful territory quarreled. According to local tradition, "The Connecticut
settlers were Yankees, and there were witches in Connecticut. They
never came over the line into New York."
US 44 bears R. on West Main St.
At 7.7 m. is LAKE AMENIA (L), one-half mile long, with swimming,
boating, and fishing facilities and a bungalow colony.
Near the end of the lake the highway begins its S-curve ascent of De La
Vergne Hill, 1.3 m. long. From a point at 8.8 m., near the top of the ascent,
is a view (L) down the pasturelands of the Harlem valley, with a narrow
rock pass far south, through which State 22 makes its way.
At the top of De La Vergne Hill (929 alt.), 9.3 m., is the junction (R)
with State 82 A. (See Tour ID).
For the next 9 m. the road gradually descends to an altitude of 565 ft.
at Millbrook. This section is rocky and hilly, with few dwellings.
At 11.2 m. is a dirt road (R), the entrance to MILLBROOK SCHOOL,
a private preparatory school for boys, established in 1930.
At 12.6 m. is the MILLBROOK THEATRE (L), one of the dozens
of country playhouses developed by the little-theatre movement. Broadway
try-outs are held here during July and August from Wednesday to Saturday
(no matinees). The one-story building was originally a Quaker meeting
house; the pews are still used and seat approximately 250 persons. The
windows are of early design, with 6-in. square panes. Charles S. Howard
and Edward Massey are directors.
At 15.2 m. is an open-air SWIMMING POOL (L) (admission 35c),
equipped with bathhouses and shower facilities.
MABBETTSVILLE, 15.4 m. (692 alt., 40 pop.), a hairnet consisting of
a store, a garage, and a cluster of houses, was early named Filkentown in
honor of one of the Great Nine Partners. The present name was derived
from James Mabbett, a commission auctioneer who settled here early in
the 19th century.
Between Mabbettsville and Millbrook lies the large private estate DAN-
HEIM (R), formerly the property of C. F. Dietrich. Its 2,500 acres are
partly improved and partly in the natural wooded state.
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At 16.9 m., opposite main gateway to Danheim (R), US 44 turns sharply
L. and enters the village of MILLBROOK.
MILLBROOK, 17.2 m. (565 alt., 1,296 pop.).
Railroad Station: New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. (freight service only).
Accommodations: Millbrook Hotel and Millbrook Inn.
Millbrook grew with the building of the railroad and station in 1869.
The name was given in compliment to George H. Brown, who was chiefly
responsible for the completion of the road and who named his estate Mill-
brook Farms. The village, incorporated in 1895, is a landscaped expanse of
modern homes with trim lawns and shade trees. The hamlets of Mabbetts-
ville, South Millbrook, and Mechanics are suburbs. The surrounding country
side is particularly beautiful with hills, wooded slopes, and wide meadows.
Much of this area is included in large estates, and several of the mansions
are visible from the highway. A number of stables are maintained ; riding
and hunting are popular. Writers and artists have been attracted to Mill-
brook, and the summer theatre is enthusiastically supported.
Both the Hicksite and Orthodox Quakers have continued active here. The
Hicksites meet occasionally in the Brick Meeting House in Mechanic, on
State 343, E. of South Millbrook. In 1926 the Orthodox joined with the
Dutch Reformed and Methodist congregations to build the Federated Church
in Millbrook.
US 44 follows Franklin Ave. to North Ave. and turns L. on North Ave.
At 17.8 m. is junction with dirt road.
Right, on this dirt road, is the HART HOMESTEAD, .5 m., built in
1800 by Philip Hart, owner of a fulling mill. It is a Colonial frame
house, with hand-carved paneling and elaborately decorated window
cornices. A 6-ft. fireplace of simple hand-carved design is in the right
wing. Antique furniture completes the picture of a pleasing old home
stead. When the house was built the front was painted white and the
rear red, in keeping with the general practice of the period.
At 18.4 m. is the BENNETT SCHOOL and BENNETT SCHOOL
JUNIOR COLLEGE (R). The Bennett School was founded by May
Friend Bennett at Irvington-on-the-Hudson in 1891. In 1907 Miss Bennett
purchased the former Halcyon Hall in Millbrook, a vacant hotel, and
moved the school to the site it now occupies. The buildings are on a knoll,
surrounded by a wide lawn. The tennis courts and archery range are visible
from the highway. Three graduates of the school's drama department, Mil
dred Natwick, Helen Chandler, and Helen Trenholme, have appeared on
Broadway. Betty Furness, featured film player, graduated from the high
school department. Gail Bolger, another graduate, appeared with Helen
Chandler in the 1936 production of Pride and Prejudice. Greek drama was
first presented in 1920. In 1922 an outdoor Greek theatre was built, in which
Greek Festivals are held each year.
In 1935 the school's department of liberal and applied arts was chartered
as a junior college, covering the 4-year general or college preparatory course.
It also offers a 2-year course in academic studies, dramatic art, music, fine
and applied arts, household arts, and secretarial duties.
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At 18.5 m. is FOUR CORNERS MONUMENT, the junction of State
82, State 243, and US 44. A stone shaft at the center of the intersection
gives directions. US 44 turns R.
SOUTH MILLBROOK, 18.5 m., was formerly known as the Four
Corners and Washington Four Corners, and became Washington, N. Y.,
in 1869. The name confused postal clerks, who read the "D. C." (Dutchess
County) as District of Columbia; and the name was therefore again changed
to South Millbrook.
Left on State 343 is the entrance (R) to the PHEASANT BREEDERS
AND HUNTING ASSOCIATION, 4 m. A varying admission is charged
for the privilege of hunting pheasants on the estate.
At .7 m. is the MILLBROOK GOLF CLUB (L). Golfing, swimming,
and tennis facilities are provided.
The hamlet of MECHANIC, / m., so named because of the number of
skilled workmen employed in the various blacksmith, carpentry, and
wagon-making shops in the neighborhood, grew around the BRICK
MEETING HOUSE (L), built in 1780 by the Nine Partners Meeting of
Society of Friends. The two-story rectangular brick building, 40 by 75
ft., is in such excellent condition that a casual glance might give the
impression that it is of recent construction. It is free from ornamentation.
The interior was divided into two parts one for men and one for
women. A raised platform was provided for the speakers, and rough
benches for the congregation. On both the women's and men's sides cast-
iron woodburning stoves are still in position. No alterations have been
made since the meeting house was erected. On the lawn in front of the
building is a sun dial, donated by Jacob Willetts (see below). A horse
block still remains on the driveway (R).
Freed Negro slaves sought the protection of the Quakers a century ago
and built a colony of huts near the church. The hovels were destroyed to
make way for landscaping SANDANONA (Indian, Sunshine], the ad
jacent estate of John D. Wing.
The site (R) of the NINE PARTNERS SCHOOL lies 500 ft. E. of the
meeting house. This school was opened by the Society of Friends in
1796, especially for those of their faith who were in indigent circum
stances. A thorough academic Course was offered; attendance reached
100 students. It continued to prosper until the division of the Society
of Friends in 1828 into Orthodox and Hicksite groups. (See Tour No.
4.) Upon this division the Hicksites withdrew from the Orthodox Nine
Partners school and established a separate and similar school under the
principalship of Jacob and Deborah Willets, who had been among the
first pupils to attend the original school. Jacob Willetts was the author
of popular arithmetic and geography textbooks: to his inspiration we owe
the useful lyric beginning "Thirty days hath September." Deborah
Rodgers Willetts was a noted grammarian and mathematician. The Nine
Partners School continued under the management of the Orthodox branch
until 1835. Later it was reopened and continued under other direction
until 1864. The building was then removed, and part of it was incor
porated in the construction of John D. Wing's private residence.
THORNDALE, 19.2 m. (R), occupied by Oakleigh Thome, is the old
homestead made famous by the horses and cattle bred under the direction of
Edwin and Samuel Thome. In 1860, Samuel Thome's herd of 70 short-horn
Durhams, valued at $70,000, was regarded by authorities as the best herd
100
in the United States. The low stone house built in 1725 by Isaac and Hannah
Thorne still stands on the grounds. The extensive flower gardens are open
to inspection during the spring.
At 20.8 m. is view (R) across the Dutchess woods to the bulging blue line
of the Catskills.
WASHINGTON HOLLOW, 23.8 m. (321 alt., 80 pop.), is today a
residential village for Poughkeepsie commuters. The small white frame
houses on the one street are shaded by large maples. Settled before the end
of the Revolution, it was in 1813 the camp ground for artillery trains bound
for Sacketts Harbor. For a number of years it was the site of the Dutchess
County Fair. The lonely bandstand, racetrack, and rambling hotel are still
intact (R) at the edge of the village, adjoining the N. junction with State
82 (R).
At 23.9 m., about 200 ft. from the road, with the grounds enclosed by a
fieldstone wall, is the ZACHEUS NEWCOMB HOUSE (L), one of the
earliest examples of the Dutch brick house in Dutchess County, built in
1777 by Sarah Tobias Newcomb, while her husband, Zacheus, was away
at war. Mrs. Newcomb not only superintended the construction of the
house but also directed the manufacture of the bricks which were used in it.
The pond visible from the highway, was formed by flooding the pit from
which the brick clay was dug.
The house is Georgian, 2 stories high, with a gambrel roof. The floor
plan is that of the usual 18th century house, with a central hall bisecting
the structure. The bricks are laid in Flemish bond. The south porch is an
exact reproduction of the original, and the front door is the one built with
the house, as are the mantels, window seats, corner cupboads, wood trim,
and blue tile.
At 24.5 m. is a view (L) of the Hudson Highlands.
At 25.8 m. is junction with dirt road.
Left on this road is the JOHN NEWCOMB HOUSE .7 m. (L). In 1802
John Newcomb, a son of Zacheus Newcomb, built a fulling mill on the
stream that crosses this tract. In 1808 he built the two-story frame struc
ture. There is a leaded design over the Dutch door and small panes
of glass on either side. The angles of the outside walls are bound with
quoins of wood, and a rope design is employed under the eaves. The
walls of the hall are plastered to resemble purple and white marble. In
the southwest bedroom is a hand-carved mantel. The kitchen wing has a
large stone fireplace, wide floor planks, and handhewn ceiling beams. A
slave bench was once fastened to the wall beside the fireplace. This
was a rough 6-ft. plank, an inch thick and a foot wide. When the slaves
misbehaved they were forced to sit on the bench close to a huge dog
tied at one end of the bench. The bench is in the possession of Mrs. Floyd
Laird of Pleasant Valley. The property was purchased by Mrs. Alson
Laird in 1867, and is now occupied by a tenant farmer. A few minor
changes have been made, but in the main the house is in its original
condition.
PLEASANT VALLEY, 26 m. (200 alt., 300 pop.).
Railroad Station: The New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. (Pine Plains Branch)
(freight only).
101
Accommodations: Earths Hotel.
Settled in 1740 by Quakers and Presbyterians while still a part of the
Crum Elbow Precinct, Pleasant Valley soon became a center for grist and
cotton mills operated by the waters of Wappinger Creek. The largest cotton
plant was built in 1815, which in 1860 operated 80 looms and employed
75 men, women, and children. Industry died at the end of the 19th century.
The village today is a bustling Poughkeepsie suburb, its wide streets shaded
by elms.
At 26.7 m., just beyond the village, is the new power station of the
NIAGARA HUDSON POWER & LIGHT CORPORATION (R).
East of the plant stands a curious old stone barn, an interesting juxtaposi
tion of the old and the modern. It is of interest primarily because its masonry
is typical of the 18th century and because of openings formed in the walls,
narrow on the outside, flaring within, similar to the loopholes in early block
houses. Records of its origin are lost, but it is believed to have been erected
in the 1750's as a defense post against possible French-Indian raids. There
are four other such buildings in the Hudson Valley, at Harmon, New Paltz,
Rensselaer, and Kerhonkson, Ulster County.
From this point to Poughkeepsie many tourist cabins line the highway and
cottages extend down the slope on the S. to Wappinger Creek.
At 27.9 m. is junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road is ROCHDALE, .5 m., a settlement of summer cottages.
The hamlet is on Wappinger Creek, which provides boating and bathing.
The excellent fishing in the creek includes bass, trout, eels, catfish, and
suckers. Pheasants, rabbits, and squirrels are found in all parts of the
township. The section is heavily wooded.
At 30.2 m. is junction with a macadam road.
Left on this road is the ZEPHANIAH PLATT HOUSE, 4 m. (L). The
house was built in two parts. The older portion, erected about 1735 by
Gilbert Palen, consisted of two rooms and a basement kitchen. Zephaniah
Platt acquired the place in 1762, and before 1775 built the addition at
the right which doubled the size of the house. The enlargement was
doubtless made to accommodate the large family, for here twelve
children were born to him and his wife, Mary, daughter of Theodorus
Van Wyck, of Wiccopee. Platt was prominent in the political history of
the State, serving in the Revolution as a colonel of militia and a member
of the New York Provincial Congress; and later as a State senator
and member of the Constitutional Convention at Poughkeepsie where he
voted in favor of ratification. In 1798 he moved to the northern part of
the State ; with his three brothers, and others from Poughkeepsie, he
founded the city of Plattsburgh.
The house stands today practically unaltered. It is built of native field-
stone, with a second story in brick and a gambrel roof. The front door
is of the Dutch double type and has a brass knocker of Revolutionary
design. Two rooms are graced by deep fireplaces with carved mantels.
The original cellar door is still in use. The hinges are of wood and the
long bar that locks the door rests in crude wooden sockets.
Left at the Platt House. At .5 m. across the White Bridge over Wap
pinger Creek. Proceed up the hill, where at .8 m. is the junction of
three roads. Take L. fork and proceed straight ahead.
102
At 1.2 m. is the SLEIGHT HOUSE (L), one of the few remaining ex
amples of the early Dutch stone houses in Dutchess County. Of select
native fieldstone, the building is 2 stories high, with a main hall bisecting
it in the i8th century style. It was erected in 1798 by Jacobus Sleight,
who married Elsie De Riemer, a descendant of Isaac De Riemer, one of
the early mayors of New York City. The house was raised on the site
of a smaller one built by Abram Sleight, father of Jacobus, in the second
quarter of the i8th century. The old frame barn, E. of the house, in ex
cellent condition, was put up in 1831. The present owner is a descendant
of the builder.
Across the highway from the junction is a farmers' cooperative market,
where fruit and vegetables are sold in season.
From the top of the hill at 31 m. is a view of the suburb of Arlington.
At 31.4 m. are the modern office structures (L) of the NEW YORK
STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT and the COUNTY HIGH
WAY DEPARTMENT.
US 44 passes through the business section of Arlington, on the outskirts
of Poughkeepsie.
At 322 m. is the Poughkeepsie city line. (See Poughkeepsie.)
TOUR 1 A
Junction US g and Old Post Road Staatsburg. Old Post Road. I. 7 m.
Left from US 9 on Old Post Road.
STAATSBURG, .5 m. (90 alt., 530 pop.).
Railroad Station: New York Central, center of village.
Busses: Twilight Bus Line, flag stop.
In 1693, Captain Henry Pawling, an English officer, bought 4,000 acres
of land in Dutchess County from the Indians. In 1698, his widow and chil
dren obtained a Crown patent, but in 1701 sold their rights to Dr. Samuel
Staats and Dirck Van Der Burgh, both of New York City, for 130 pounds.
The village name is a union of the names of the two owners.
In earlier years, ice cutting on the Hudson River was an important in
dustry, directly west of the village of Staatsburg was one of the largest plants.
In 1858, J. H. Bodenstein established a shop for the manufacture of ice-
cutting implements. The business expanded, and today the Staatsburg Ice
Tool Works sells its products throughout the United States and abroad.
Beneath Staatsburg. is an underlying stratum of quicksand. Buildings in
the village located above this stratum quiver when the New York Central
trains pass over the section of the railroad tracks which crosses the quicksand.
At the south end of the village, opposite the high school, stands the OLD
STONE HOUSE (R), built early in the 18th century. It is a substantial
square building with four chimneys, the porch and wood trim painted red.
Tradition says that it was an inn in the stage coach days.
About one-half mile L. from center of village on a narrow, macadam
road is the LEWIS GORDON NORRIE PARK, on the banks of the
Hudson. The entrance is marked by a monument. The park was donated
to the people of Staatsburg by Geraldine Morgan Thompson in memory of
103
a favorite nephew, who spent the summers of his childhood in Staatsburg.
He died in 1923, before attaining his twenty-second birthday. The park has
facilities for swimming, boating, and fishing, and fireplaces and tables for
picnics.
One block east of Main St. is the TELEPHONE BUILDING, (L),
a reproduction of a Colonial one-story stone house 25 ft. square. The wrought
iron ornamentations are copies of 18th century handwork. The interior
houses the village automatic dialing system.
ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH (R), in the center of the village was
built in the Civil War period in an adaptation of the Gothic style. It has
in its south wall two three-panel windows brought from Chartres, France,
by Ogden Mills, Sr., as a memorial to his wife, Ruth Livingston Mills.
A NINE-HOLE GOLF COURSE (R) at the north end of the village
is owned by R. P. Huntington.
At 1 m. are the elaborate gates (L) of the ESTATE OF OGDEN
LIVINGSTON MILLS.
MORGAN LEWIS, son of one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, acquired this property in 1792. Judge Lewis was at the battle
of Stillwater, and led the van of attack against Johnson and Brant at
Klock's Field. At the bar and bench his appointments ranged from At
torney General of the State to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New
York, and in politics from member of Assembly to Governor (1804-06). He
served as president of the Society of the Cincinnati and is credited with
being the founder of the common school system. He married Gertrude
Livingston, sister of the Chancellor, and about 1795 built a brick house
known as Staatsburg House. In his day the estate was noted for its hospital
ity; among the many distinguished visitors were Joseph Bonaparte, who was
entertained here in 1816, and the Marquis de LaFayette, who stopped here
while en route to Clermont. The brick house was destroyed by fire in 1832.
The massive walls survived and became the nucleus of the second house,
which was remodeled by Mr. and Mrs. Mills in 1895.
The property has remained in the possession of the descendants of Morgan
Lewis; Ruth Livingston Mills, wife of Ogden Mills, Sr., was his great-
granddaughter.
The two main entrances lead through high, ornamented, ivyclad iron gates
bearing the initials "R.L.M.," in honor of Ruth Livingston Mills. The lands
of the estate bordering the highway have been left in a natural wooded
state. The property is divided into two sections, the farms with their ex
tensive orchards and prize stock lie R. The residence estate is west of the
New York Central R. R. on the river bank. The formal mansion, visible
from the Hudson, is a large white house with Ionic columns, standing on
the crest of a hill, its wide lawn sloping riverward.
At 1.6 m., adjoining the Mills estate, is THE LOCUSTS (L) the home
of the late William B. Dinsmore. The large frame country house, sur
rounded by maples and evergreens and wide acres of farmlands, is a river
estate typical of this region.
104
he Whitefield Oak
Smithfield
,
Family Burial
Ground north of
Rhinebeck
Churchyard at St.
Church, Hyde Park
St. James' Church,
Hyde Park
At 1.9 m. is the entrance (L) to HOPELAND, the country estate of
R. P. Huntington. "No Admittance" signs flank the gravel drive here and
at other entrances (L). Only landscaped grounds and the peaks of modem
barns are visible.
Beyond Hopeland, rifts among the trees offer glimpses of the Hudson
above Esopus Island. Beyond the hills in blue masses to the N. W. tower the
Catskill Mountains.
TOUR 1 B
Rhinebeck Barrytoivn Annandale Tivoli. Barrytoivn Road. State pG.
Macadam and 2-strip concrete road.
The route winds through the wooded countryside of the river-shore past
huge estates and picturesque villages surrounded by fruit orchards. The road
offers vista after vista of the wide river and the Catskills.
The route begins at junction of US 9 and Barry town Road in Rhinebeck.
L. on Barrytown Road. At .7 m., L. on macadam road.
At 2 m., deep in the Astor woods and 50 ft. above the road, is the site
(L) of SUCKLEY CHAPEL, built in 1883, as a home for aged clergymen.
The project wa ssoon abandoned and the land was sold to the Astor family.
The chapel was torn down during the winter of 1936.
At 3.5 m. is the entrance (L) to ROKEBY. The house, not visible from
the road, was originally a two-story, rectangular brick structure built dur
ing the war of 1812 by Gen. John Armstrong, then Secretary of War. The
library wing and mansard roof were added by Mrs. William B. Astor,
Armstrong's only daughter, who lived here until 1872. The estate is now
owned and occupied by Margaret Aldrich, a descendant.
An officer in the Continental Army, Armstrong moved from Pennsylvania
to Dutchess after the Revolution. Before becoming Secretary of War, he
served successively as United States Senator from New York and Minister
to France.
At 5.2 m. is junction with State 199.
Left on State 199 is BARRYTOWN, / m. (100 alt., 469 pop.), known
in the i8th century as Red Hook Landing. Granted a post office in 1828
by Postmaster-General W. T. Barry, the village was renamed in his
honor. Besides the postoffice, it consists of the New York Central R. R.
station and a few scattered houses.
In 1777 the British fleet burned local storehouses filled with grain for
the Continental Army.
ST. JOSEPH'S NOVITIATE, across field at top of hill (R), is a Roman
Catholic normal school dedicated in 1930 by Patrick Cardinal Hayes,
Archbishop of New York.
At 5.6 m. is the QUINN HOUSE (L), a one-and-one-half-story gray
stone house of the early 18th century. The N. end has wide clapboards se
cured with handwrought nails. The floors are of broad, thick planks, and
some of the original hardware remains. In the cellar is a huge Dutch fire-
105
place. The stone slave house, 10 by 12 ft., still stands, unaltered externally,
at the N. end of the building.
After burning the stores at Red Hook Landing, the British raiders seized
and looted the Quinn House, then occupied by a family named Moore.
Just beyond the Quinn House is the entrance (L) to the old MONT
GOMERY ESTATE, which, without a sale, has descended through six
wills to the present owner, Gen. John Ross Delafield. The house, built
in 1804 by the widow of Gen. Richard Montgomery, is of stone, with
walls 2 ft. thick and great windows and high ceilings, after the fashion of
the time. The portico, terrace, and roof balustrade were added in 1862.
Born in Ireland, Montgomery came to America in 1772 and settled in
Rhinebeck, marrying Janet Livingston the following year. Until the out
break of war, they were engaged in building Grasmere, 7 m. S. (See p. 91.)
Montgomery was second in command under General Schuyler in the Cana
dian expedition of 1775. He captured Chambly, St. John's, and Montreal,
only to be among the first to fall in the disastrous joint attack with Benedict
Arnold on the fortress of Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775.
Mrs. Montgomery completed Grasmere, but moved to this new "Chateau
de Montgomery" in 1804, where she lived until her death in 1828. In the
summer of 1818 a steamer bearing Montgomery's remains from Quebec to
St. Paul's Church, New York, paused before the house to fire a salute.
Among various eminent men entertained here were LaFayette and Martin
Van Buren.
The next owner of the estate was Edward Livingston, Mrs. Mont
gomery's youngest brother, counsel to the Lafitte Brothers, Louisiana pirates,
and author of the Louisiana Code. He is generally believed to have been the
author of President Andrew Jackson's Nullification Proclamation of De
cember 10, 1832. His wife, Louise d'Avezac de Castera, a Creole from Santo
Domingo, lived on the estate for 25 years after his death. During her
husband's term as United States Minister to France, she is said to have
been regarded as the most gifted and most beautiful woman at the French
Court.
At 6.1 m. is ANNANDALE P. O. (180 alt., 182 pop.), and just beyond
is a triangular road junction centered by an antique village pump. The route
takes the left fork and proceeds straight ahead through the village.
The site of Annandale was part of the Schuyler Patent of 1688, and was
first settled by Barent Van Benthuysen, who purchased the river-front from
Schuyler in 1725.
At 6.8 m. is the entrance (L) to BLITHEWOOD. In 1801 the estate
was named Annandale by Mrs. John Allen (nee Johnstone), after a Scotch
earldom in the Johnstone family. John Cox Stevens, one of the first prominent
sportsmen in the United States and a founder of the New York Yacht Club,
purchased the estate in 1810 and lived here until 1833. His ownership was
followed by that of Robert Donaldson, under whom the estate became noted
as an example of landscape gardening. The turf laid by Donaldson is still
in place.
106
John Bard, founder of Bard College, bought the property in 1853 and
revived the name Annandale, abandoned during the two previous occu
pancies, because of a connection between the Bard and Johnstone families.
The name subsequently came to be used for the vicinage as well as the es
tate, and now designates only the former.
BARD COLLEGE, 6.9 m. (R) (formerly St. Stephen's), has 26 build
ings, most of which are of English Collegiate Gothic architecture. The 34-
acre campus overlooks the Hudson River Valley. There are 300 students.
Opposite the main entrance is a simple Gothic church (L), the CHAPEL
OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS, built and named by Mr. John Bard,
about 1858, as a memorial to his only son, and in 1860 designated as the
college chapel.
The college was founded by John Bard in 1860 to provide a classical
education leading to the A. B. degree for sons of the Episcopal clergy. For
many years thereafter a large percentage of the graduates entered the
Episcopal ministry directly or entered seminaries to prepare for the ministry,
a fact which was probably responsible for the legend that St. Stephen's
College was a theological seminary. Bard was a grandson of Dr. Samuel
Bard, founder of St. James' Church in Hyde Park.
In 1828 the college became an integral but self-governing part of Co
lumbia University, and in 1934 the name was changed to Bard College, in
honor of the founder.
At the angle of the road turning east is WARD MANOR, 7.2 m. (L), a
2,000-acre property owned by the New York Association for Improving the
Condition of the Poor and designed primarily as a home for the aged. The
main building houses 50 persons and the secondary building 35, there being,
in addition to these, 18 fully equipped bungalows, a convalescent unit, and
summer camps for boys and girls.
A part of the Schuyler Patent, this neighborhood was owned by Barent
Van Benthuysen from 1725 to 1790, the part that is now Ward Manor
passing in the latter year to Gen. John Armstrong. The house built by
Armstrong was destroyed by fire, and for many years the place lay idle. The
gray stone Tudor edifice, main building of the present group, was built in
1915 by L. G. Hammersley of New York, who, however, never occupied it.
In 1926 Robert Boyd Ward, a prominent bread manufacturer, purchased
the estate and gave it to the present owners, together with an endowment of
$1,000,000.
At Ward Manor is the junction with a one-way dirt road, requiring
cautious driving.
Left on this road is CRUGER'S ISLAND .75 m. Off the N. end of Cruger's
Island, Henry Hudson is said to have anchored for a night on his voyage
up the river. Local, too, is the legend of an extraordinary Indian trial-
at-arms held here a century later following the admission of the Tus-
caroras to the Iroquois Confederation. A controversy arose as to which
of the tribes should be dominant. To settle the question it was agreed
that fifty warriors should be chosen from each tribe to battle for su
premacy. Cruger's Island, then known as Magdalen Island, was chosen
as the site of the conflict. After a long and desperate struggle, only
107
Mohawks and Tuscaroras remained, with the latter holding a numerical
advantage. The Mohawks fled in their canoes and took refuge on Goat
Island (then ailed Schlipsteen Island), a mile north. Lighting camp
fires, they arranged logs and stones, covered them with blankets to
simulate sleeping men, then hid in the underbrush. As anticipated,
the Tuscaroras stole in during the night and fell upon the apparent
group of sleepers. The Mohawks sprang from covert, surrounded and
overwhelmed the Tuscaroras, and by this stratagem became the dominant
tribe of the Confederacy.
John G. Cruger, once mayor of New York City, bought the island in
1835 and built a house upon it, the remains of which are still visible.
A small chapel, standing on a rock at the S. end of the island, was
constructed by Cruger in imitation of ruins discovered by John Lloyd
Stevens, an American explorer, in Chiapis and Yucatan.
At 7.5 m. is the junction with State 9G, a concrete road. The route turns
L. on State 9G.
This route is known locally as the Apple Blossom Trail because of the
many apple orchards which line it on both sides.
At 9.7 m. is the junction with a concrete road. The route turns L. on this
road.
TIVOLI-MADALIN, 9.8 m. (152 alt., 1603 pop.), derives its name
from one of those grandiose but impracticable schemes that caught the
imagination of so many Europeans in the early days of the republic. After
the Revolution a Frenchman named Delabegarre purchased the property
now known as the Elmsdorf Place, and built on it a reproduction of a
French chateau, surrounded by moats and high walls. He named his creation
the Chateau de Tivoli and planned to build a city within the walls. The
dream remained unrealized and all but a high octagonal tower was re
moved. The property then passed into the hands of the DePeysters, who
built a house in which the tower was incorporated. This stood until 1930,
when house and tower were torn down. Parts remain of the original wall
that enclosed the estate. Madalin (once known as Myersville) and Tivoli
were united and incorporated in 1872.
At 10.6 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right, on this road, is ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH and
VAULTS 0.2 m. (L). The first wooden church building was erected
in 1818. The present structure was begun in 1868, and stands on an
esplanade facing E. Slate-roofed, and constructed of rough stone in the
Norman Gothic style, it is almost entirely overgrown with ivy. The
windows between the buttresses are of ground glass. In the semi-hex
agonal transept on the S. are pews once used by the Livingstons and
the DePeysters. In the immediate rear of the chancel, and abutting
against the foundation wall of the church, is a vault of Hudson River
bluestone containing the remains of Gen. John Watts DePeyster. On
either side of the wrought-iron door are lo-pound Parrott guns. North
ward, in a semicircle at the rear of the church ,are eight other mausoleums
of somewhat similar design, four of which are owned by the Livingston
family.
At 10.7 m. is the entrance (L) to the CALLENDAR HOUSE, a large
frame structure with thick brick-filled walls, built by Henry Gilbert Living-
108
ston in 1794. The interior remains unaltered. The Greek Revival veranda
dates from the 1830's.
Before the Revolution the land was occupied by Indians, two of whose
graves, containing skeletons, arrowheads, and carved stones, were discovered
when the lawns were being graded in 1888. A part of the Schuyler Patent,
the estate was acquired in 1781 by Joseph Ketcham, who built a dock on the
riverfront, where the next owners, Jacob Bogardus and John Reade, con
ducted a store for a number of years. Chancellor Livingston, experimenting
at that time with steamboats, constructed a 30-ton vessel in the North Bay
cove of the property. The craft, however, failed to perform satisfactorily
on its trial trip.
Henry Gilbert Livingston bought the estate in 1794 and built the house,
selling it the following year to Philip H. Livingston. The latter named
the place Sunning Hill and lived here until 1828. Among later owners, all
of whom have been members of the Livingston family, have been Robert
Tillotson; James Boorman, first president of the Hudson River R. R. ;
Henry De Koven, a rector of St. Paul's Church, Tivoli, and father of
Reginald De Koven, the composer; and Johnstone Livingston, who re
named the property Callendar House. The present owner is Mrs. Katherine
Johnstone Livingston Redmond.
At 10.8 m. is the entrance (L) to THE PYNES, an estate owned by
Mrs. Redmond of Callendar House, with which it is almost as closely linked
in history as in location. The Empire vases on the gateposts were brought
here from the old Chateau de Tivoli.
The main part of the house is believed to have been built in 1780 by John
Reade, who, with Jacob Bogardus, operated a store on the riverfront. The
interior, in the familiar 18th century design bisected by a central hall, has
been renovated.
Henry Gilbert Livingston, a spy for Washington's army and builder of
Callendar House, bought the property in 1794 from John Reade, his
brother-in-law. The estate has never passed out of the possession of the
Livingston family.
At 11. 1 m. is the New York Central R. R. station and the dock of the
Sunrise Ferry Co., operating auto ferries between Tivoli-Madalin and
Saugerties.
| ~ TOUR 1C
Red Hook Dutchess-Columbia County Line, US 9. 5.1 m.
The section through which this route passes is sparsely settled. Apple and
cherry orchards border the highway.
The route begins in Red Hook at junction of US 9 and State 199, and
follows US 9 N.
At A m. is the MARTIN HOMESTEAD (L), built in 1732 by Hen-
drick Martin. The stone walls were recently covered with white cement,
but the interior remains in its original state. The walls enclose an air-
chamber, making the house cool in summer and warm in winter. Solid, hand-
109
hewn beams, 12 x 14 inches, span the rooms. The flooring is composed of
planks 14 to 28 inches wide. The two-piece doors, brass knobs, and wrought-
iron hinges and knockers are original.
At 2.7 m. is junction with macadam road.
Right on this road .3 m. is Upper Red Hook. In the center of the hamlet
is the THOMAS HOUSE, (R), a brick tavern used by Gen. Israel
Putnam as a headquarters in 1777, and a station for stage coaches in the
halcyon days before the railroad. Directly beyond the Thomas house
take right fork to SPRING LAKE, 2 m., a private summer resort with
facilities for tennis playing, swimming, boating, bathing, and fishing.
At 4.1 m. is a junction with a macadam road.
Left on this road is the REDDER HOMESTEAD, .75 m. (R), built about
1720. It is a one-floor and attic house of stone, painted white, with green
shutters and a very steep roof.
The original two-piece door has hinges, latches, and a door-knocker
imported from Holland. The flooring-boards, 12 x 14 inches, are fastened
by wooden pegs. Spanning the rooms are 14 x i8-inch hand-hewn beams
with the draw-plane and adze marks visible. The molding and fireplace
mantel are hand carved. While digging in the cellar, the owner un
covered coins dating back to 1722. These are still in his possession.
At 5.1 m. is the DUTCHESS-COLUMBIA COUNTY LINE.
^ TOUR1 D
Pine Plains Washington Hollow. State 82. 17 m.
Leaving Pine Plains, the road leads into the Mid-Dutchess County valley.
This is a dairy and fruit region; cultivated fields and orchards line the
highway.
At .5 m. is the junction with State 82A, a macadam road (sharp curves).
Left, State 82A traverses a wooded countryside. Wild strawberries and
blackberries abound along the roadside. Coarse bunch grass and brush
line the road and extend back as far as the eye can see. Fallow fields
and dilapidated houses tell the story of a once busy farming section.
At 5.5 m. is the village of SHEKOMEKO (665 alt., 45 pop.), named for
the Indian village which was located about 3 m. NE. Christian Henry
Rauch of the Moravian Missionary Society established a mission here
in 1740. Upon his arrival Rauch found the tribal remnants that had
gravitated to the ancient Indian village reduced to almost hopeless dis
solution by the neighboring white settlers as the easiest way to intimida
tion and exploitation.
In 1741 Bishop David Nitschman, associate of Count Zinzendorf, the
founder of the Missionary movement, visited Shekomeko; and soon after
ward Gottlob Buettner, a missionary from Bethlehem, Pa., came to stay.
Count Zinzendorf himself visited Shekomeko with his daughter in the
summer of 1742. Six Indians were baptised during Zinzendorf's visit, and
a regular congregation was formed. The next year a bark-covered
chapel was erected by the little group and the congregation grew to
63 members. Although German Protestant and quite without political
or national bias, the missionaries were bitterly denounced as Jesuits,
in league with the French.
The Brothers of the Mission were brought to trial a number of times,
each trial resulting in a clear acquittal. Finally on Dec. 17, 1744, they
110
were summoned to Poughkeepsie on an arbitrary charge of aiding the
French, and were definitely ordered to leave the country.
The Indian Congregation subsisted until its members were driven by force
from Shekomeko on the pretense that they did not own the land. In
February, 1745. Buettner, who had been unable to leave because of
illness, died at the age of 29, and was buried by his Indian converts
shortly before they scattered. A monument replacing the defaced original
was erected over his grave in 1869 by the Moravian Historical Society.
SMITHFIELD, 9 m. (800 alt., 4.0 pop.), is a village with a cluster of
attractive houses under fine old trees. Settled about 1712, the village
stood at the center of an age-old hunting ground of the Pequot Indians.
At a bend of the road, overlooking the cluster of houses, is the PRES
BYTERIAN CHURCH (L), a square, low Greek Revival structure
with Ionic porch columns, imposing in its simplicity. The dilapidated old
horse-sheds still stand at the E. side. The burying ground across the
road contains headstones bearing dates as early as 1757. At the en
trance to the burying ground is a LARGE OAK TREE under which
the great Methodist divine, George Whitefield, preached on June 19,
1770, a few months before his death. His sermons drew settlers from a
5O-mile area ; the crowd filled the graveyard and overflowed to sur
rounding fields.
Leaving Smithfield, the road winds through woods to a junction with
US 44, W. of Amenia.
Retrace route to State 82.
On State 82 BRIARCLIFF FARMS, 1.4 m. (R), a center for prize
Aberdeen-Angus cattle, are owned by Oakleigh Thorne of Millbrook. Milk
Lake, on the farm at 2 m. (R), is so called because of the unusual white
strip through its center. In stormy weather the streak widens and covers
three-quarters of the lake surface.
At .7 m. is junction with dirt road.
Left on this road is HUNNS LAKE, 2 m. (80 acres), a private summer
resort.
At 7.7 m. is junction with dirt road.
Left on this road is BANGALL, .4 m. (400 alt., 60 pop.) , a small village
which owed its growth to the New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R.
(formerly the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut).
STANFORDVILLE, 8.5 m. (327 alt., Ill pop.).
Railroad Station: New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. (freight service only).
Busses: Mid-county busses stop on signal.
This is a one-street village on the hillside with church, school, and general
store. The history of Stanfordville is that of the decadence of a small inland
manufacturing center. Neither Bangall nor Stanfordville has shared in the
suburban trend swelling the larger towns of the county. Both are agricul
tural communities, with social activities, centered in the school, churches,
and grange.
At 10.5 m. is junction with dirt road.
Right on this road is UPTON LAKE, 3 m. (L), (70 acres), a summer
resort for camping, boating, bathing, and fishing.
South, the road is flanked by rich pasture lands and well cultivated farms.
Ill
At 14.5 m. is an old MILL (L), once part of a large cotton manufactur
ing plant.
At 15.9 m., beside the old County Fair grounds of Washington Hollow
(L), is the junction with US 44.
TOUR 2
Poughkeepsie New Hackensack Hopewell Junction Pawling Dover
Plains Amenta. State 376, 52, 216, 55, 22.
Poughkeepsie Amenta, 53.3 m.
Road is 2-lane, chiefly macadam. Local bus lines.
This route makes a triangle covering a large part of Dutchess County.
The entire route lies in a region of valley farms and foothills, rich in his
toric interest. The road curves and dips constantly, with few level stretches.
Section a. Poughkeepsie Gayhead. State 376, 15.4 m.
This section of the route between Poughkeepsie and Pawling is the direct
way between Poughkeepsie and southeastern points. The section on State
22, between Pawling and Amenia, follows the historic Harlem Valley con
necting New York and the north.
The route starts at the Court House, Poughkeepsie.
R. on Main St. to intersection with Raymond Ave. R. on Raymond Ave.
to State 376.
At 1.9 m. is Vassar College (L).
At 2.7 m. the route bears L. on State 376.
At 4 m. is GRAY'S RIDING ACADEMY (L), the headquarters of
the Rombout Riding and Hunt Club. The Vassar Horse Show is held here
annually early in May ; hunter trials are held in October.
At the entrance to the academy a lane (L ) leads to the DuBOIS HOUSE,
built in 1774 by Lewis DuBois. The front and gable-end walls are of yellow-
painted brick, the thick rear wall of stone. The mansard roof, the porch,
windows and shutters are alterations. The center hall and two adjacent
rooms belong to the original design. Fine woodwork, a panelled dado, and
staircase are the chief remnants of the 1774 interior.
The land was part of the Rombout Patent of 1685. The builder was a
captain of the Continental Army in the Battle of Quebec, later promoted to
the rank of major, and still later to general of the New York Militia.
Subsequent owners include members of the Livingston, Greenleaf, Ingraham,
Adriance and Varick families.
Just beyond the academy is the entrance (R) to GREENVALE PARK,
where Wappinger Creek provides excellent swimming facilities. The stream
at this point is approximately 75 ft. wide, with a depth varying from 2 to
15 ft. A large shallow area affords ideal wading for children. There are
parking fields, picnic grounds, horseshoe pitching courts, and bath houses*
for men and women.
At 5 m. is the POUGHKEEPSIE AIRPORT (R), a private enterprise.
The route bears left on State 376.
112
From this point the curves of Wappinger Creek are followed through
woods and pasture.
At 5.1 m. a concrete bridge crosses Wappinger Creek. The old dam is the
site of a vanished grist mill; and immediately S. is RED OAK MILLS (R),
a picnic and bathing spot.
Many bungalows, recently built between Red Oak Mills and New
Hackensack, are the homes of people who work in Poughkeepsie. They repre
sent the same suburban trend found E. of the city in the villages of
Washington Hollow and Pleasant Valley.
At 6.8 m. is the STEPHEN THORN HOME (L), a brick residence
painted white. The inscription on the cornerstone of the modern stone
chimney reads: "Stephen Thorn 1772." The dormers, the rear frame
addition, and the Greek Revival porch are of a later period.
The site is part of land deeded by the Indians in 1700 to Stephen Van
Cortlandt, one of the original Rombout patentees. He held this land until
1733, when it passed to his sister, Mrs. John Schuyler, who sold it in 1734
to Tunis Van Benschoten. Samuel Thorn of Westchester subsequently
acquired 210 acres, which were inherited by his son, Dr. Stephen Thorn,
who built the house.
A ghost story is told about a maid of the Thorns who was said to have
been bewitched by a peddler because she refused to kiss him. Strange rappings
followed her through the house and the furniture moved mysteriously. The
peddler was finally traced and confessed to causing the disturbance. He de
clared it would cease when a large stone in the attic was rolled down stairs.
Such a thing came to pass and the trouble ended.
At 6.9 m. is the entrance (R) to the NEW HACKENSACK AIR
PORT, owned by the Federal Government, opened in 1932 as an emergency
landing field. It lies in the direct airline between New York, Albany, and
Montreal; measures 2,760 ft. by 2,110 ft.; is lighted and marked according
to regulations; and is open 24 hours a day. The apparatus includes a wall
map charting air beacons throughout the United States; a sending and re
ceiving radio to check the course of planes; a teletype, which constantly re
ports weather conditions.
The REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, 6.9 m. (L), built in 1834, is
a brick structure painted white. It is a curious combination of Greek and
Gothic details. Buttresses to support the outer walls were a later addition.
Windows and buttresses are pointed ; portico and cornice are Greek Doric.
The congregation was formed in 1765. In 1766 Joris Brinckerhoff gave
land for a church and burying ground. A wooden edifice was completed in
1766 and remained in use until 1834, when the present structure replaced it.
On the north side of the church the site of the original building is marked
by the grave of the first resident pastor, Dominie Isaac Rysdyck, who in
1765 came to America from Holland to serve the Reformed Dutch churches
of Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, New Hackensack, and Hopewell. He served the
latter two churches until his death. A student of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew,
he was, during part of his ministry, in charge of the Dutchess County
113
Academy at Fishkill. He died in 1790, leaving behind him a reputation as
"the most learned man in the Dutch Church of America."
The cemetery adjoining the church contains many early graves. The tomb
of Johannes Schurrie (d. 1784) is inscribed:
"Behold and see as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you must be
Prepare for death and follow me."
The WORONOCK INN, 7.1 m. (R), a long white frame building with
a two-storied porch, is said to date from 1750, although the visible details
are of a later period.
NEW HACKENSACK, 7.4m. (110 alt., 130 pop.).
Busses: Local lines.
Accommodations: Woronock Inn.
State 376 cuts through the village down an arch of great elms and locusts,
The first settlers came here about 1750 from Hackensack, N. J., and
named the hamlet New Hackensack. The region is still a highly productive
farming country.
In the center of the village is junction (R) with a country road.
Right, on this road, is the JACOB VAN BENSCHOTEN TELLER
HOUSE, .5 m. (R), erected about 1830. The land on which it stands was
part of the estate left by Jacob Van Benschoten (d. 1830) to his four
nephews, each of whom was named for him. Jacob V. B. Teller, one of
these nephews, built the present house. It is a two and one-half story white
frame structure in the Greek Revival style; the portico has four fluted
Doric columns 2 stories in height.
OLD HUNDRED, 7.5 m. (L), a white farmhouse, was built in 1754
by Joseph Horton. The roof is a characteristic Dutch gambrel, more
common in New Jersey than New York. The front is of brick painted white ;
side and east additions are frame. The stairs and the panelled fireplace walls
of the living room and kitchen are Colonial.
The doors have some of their original wrought-iron hardware ; the front
door has exceptionally broad boards and handwrought nails.
Behind Old Hundred is the JANE RESIDENCE, an imposing mansion
of brick painted white, of the Greek Revival style, set in a grove of aged
hickory and locust trees.
At 10.2 m., beyond Sprout Creek bridge, is CRYSTAL SPRING
MANOR (L), a red brick gambrel mansion of 19 rooms, \ l / 2 stories high,
erected in 1768 by Philip Verplanck, Jr. The date is built in the southwest
wall in black brick figures 2 ft. high. Col. Richard Van Wyck, an officer of
the Dutchess County militia and sheriff in 1819, purchased the home in
1827. The front and end walls are of brick, the rear of stone. The front
facade has three dormers and delicate Corinthian fluting. The Dutch door
with its two glass bulls-eyes, handwrought hinges, and brass knocker, is
original. The broad hall which cuts through the whole depth has carved
wainscoting 3^4 ft- high.
114
FISHKILL PLAINS, 10.5 m. (300 alt., 60 pop.), is a one-street country
hamlet with general store, blacksmith shop, and garages.
South, the road ascends a mile-long hill. From the top of the grade is a
view (R) to the Fishkill Mountains.
Here the road makes a U turn and descends to the village of HOPE-
WELL JUNCTION, 72.5 m. (220 alt., 305 pop.), once an important
freight junction of the Central New England and Newburgh, Dutchess &
Connecticut R. Rs. Both lines have been absorbed by the New York, New
Haven & Hartford R. R. The junction gave origin to the village in 1869 and
was once on a direct railroad route from Boston to Washington. Passenger
service was discontinued several years ago.
At 13.2 m. beyond the railroad tracks, is junction with State 82, the
Mid-County Highway.
Left on State 82 is the OLD BEEKMAN ROAD. .4 m. Straight ahead
on broken macadam of the Old Beekman Road is OLD HOPEWELL,
.9 m. (300 alt., 65 Pop.), settled in 1750 by Aaron Stockholm of Long
Island, farmer and grist mill operator. Captain Thomas Storm was
another early settler.
The REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, / m. (L), is a yellow-painted
brick building with four white columns, built in 1833 on the site of a
church dating from 1764. The adjacent cemetery contains graves of the
first settlers. Among them is that of Garret, son of Capt. Thomas Storm,
who died in 1776, aged 2 years. It is inscribed, "I was born, look't
round and died."
At 2.5 m. is junction with the EASTERN STATE PARKWAY (not
open in spring of 1937).
At 2.7 m. is the STORM-ADRIANCE-BRINCKERHOFF HOUSE (L),
a white frame residence with a red roof, surrounded by a white picket
fence. On the lawn is a concrete marker recording Washington's sojourn
here in 1778 when the army was marching from Fishkill to Connecticut.
On that occasion, the commander-in-chief mildly rebuked the assembled
residents for what he considered uncalled for obeisance. A rude stone
bowl set on the marker is an Indian handmill found on the premises.
The western or left end of the house is the oldest part. Porches and
dormers are modern. In parts of the interior the old hand-hewn beams
are still visible. A Dutch oven projects from the wall at the end of the
oldest part. Some of the doors have original HL hinges. A trap-door in
the old sitting room leads to a cellar where Capt. Thomas Storm is said
to have kept his prisoners during the Revolution.
Left, a dirt road north of the Storm-Adriance-Brinckerhoff House leads
to Sylvan Lake (see p. 134.)
At junction, State 52 turns R. into State 82, and 200 ft. W. turns L.
At 14.3 m. is the entrance (L) to EMMADINE FARMS, model dairy
and stock farms owned by J. C. Penny, chain store magnate. The enterprise
includes 1,000 acres of land, and supports a herd of 500 Guernsey cattle.
The milk product is distributed directly from the farms to consumers.
At 16.1 m. is the once thriving village of GAYHEAD (officially known
as EAST FISHKILL) (300 alt., 40 pop.), now merely a junction for
State 376 and State 54.
A mill pond (L) and an old dam (R) are remnants of a 19th century
115
grist mill. A local tradition asserts that the town came by its name because
of an early inhabitant who wore bright feathers in his cap. The first settler
was Aaron Van Vlack, a Hollander, who bought 500 acres from Madam
Brett when the countryside was yet a wilderness. His son, Tunis, built the
first grist mill by the pond.
Section b. Gayhead Pawling. State 52, 216, 55. 14.8 m.
In Gayhead the route bears L. from State 376 on State 52.
At .9 m. is underpass beneath the EASTERN STATE PARKWAY.
This was the northern terminus of the parkway in the spring of 1937.
At 2.9 m. is road (L) down which Sibyl Ludington, daughter of a
colonel of Continental militia, galloped on the night of April 26, 1777, to
rouse the men of her father's regiment for a sally against British forces at
Danbury, Conn.
At 3 m. is junction with State 216 (L). The route turns L. on State
216.
Straight ahead on State 52 is STORMVILLE, .3 m. (340 alt., 157 pop.),
settled in 1730 by Garret George, and Isaac Storm. The village had 20
houses in 1860 and has changed little since then. Villagers still tell the
story of Polly Tidd, who was kidnapped with a brother and sister by
Indians from the family home 7 m. east. The brother was killed in
nearby woods. Polly and her sister were carried across the Hudson and
adopted by a tribe of Delaware Indians.
One of the braves demanded Polly's sister in marriage. She refused
and was slain. Later Polly received a similar demand. Warned by a
friendly squaw to remember her sister's fate, she accepted. Two boys were
born from the marriage. The young mother several years later escaped
with her children to her old home, and found that her parents had died.
After difficulty she established her identity, and recovered her father's
property. The two sons died in early manhood. Polly lived alone until
her death at an advanced age.
Beyond the village, the road crosses wooded hills which offer panoramic
views across the Hudson Valley, with the slopes of the Highlands S.
and the blue lines of the Catskills N.
At 3.7 m. is the entrance (R) to the LINCOLN DUDE RANCH, with
recreational facilities simulating those of a western ranch. A small lake
provides bathing, boating, and fishing; bridle paths radiate from the
main building.
PECKSVILLE, 5.3 m. (600 alt., 30 pop.), is an unmarked crossroads with
a one-room general store and a half dozen houses. An unusually large
grave in the old burying ground (R) near the crossroads is said to be
the last resting place of one of Polly Tidd's sons. In the orchard at
the top of the hill is the rock on which the Indians are said to have
tomahawked her brother.
On State 216 at 4.1 m. is the STORMVILLE SPEEDWAY (R), an
oval dirt track, one-half mile long, the scene of auto races every other Sun
day afternoon from Memorial Day until late November.
BROAD ACRES, 4.8 m. (L), close to the highway, is a large farm op
erated by the Hudson River State Hospital.
116
GREEN HAVEN, 5.2 m. (380 alt., 112 pop.), is the home of the Hud
son Valley Nurseries (L), operated by the State Conservation Department.
At 5.9 m. is the entrance (L) to LIME RIDGE FARM, a private estate
of 1,200 acres with large fruit orchards, owned by A. H. Fortington. Lime
Ridge apples have an exclusive New York City market and many are ex
ported to Europe. The owner maintains a kennel for pedigreed dogs and a
stable of thoroughbred horses. At the center of the farm is a private airport,
well lighted and marked, with an expert mechanic always on duty.
POUGHQUAG, 7.9 m. (400 alt., 180 pop.), (Indian for round lake),
a little hamlet with an old-time atmosphere. The village store is the tradi
tional rendezvous of local yarn-spinners.
For the next 2 miles the road follows a narrow, wooded valley, paralleling
the course of a clear mountain brook with numerous rapids and waterfalls.
At 10 m. is junction with State 55. The route turns L. on State 55.
STONEHOUSE (L) now vacant is a landmark, recorded on old county
maps, and once served as a post office for about 15 families.
Right on State 52 to WHALEY LAKE (L), /./ m. (690 alt.), 2^ m.
long x % m. wide, the largest lake and most popular lake resort in
Dutchess County. The road skirts the shore which is bordered by
summer cottages. Set in the midst of wooded hills, the lake offers bath
ing, boating and fishing facilities.
At 6.4. m. is the Dutchess-Putnam County line.
State 55 climbs Pawling Mountain. The steepest grade of ascent is
reached at 10.9 m.; the crest of the hill is at 11.3 m. The steep, twisting road
descends for nearly a mile.
The steep, twisting road descends for nearly a mile.
PAWLING, 13.7 m. (420 alt., 1,204 pop.).
Railroad Stations: New York Central R. R. (Harlem Valley Division).
Busses: Two bus lines.
Accommodations: Dutcher House, Hayes Hotel, Pawling Inn.
Motion Picture Theatre: One.
The village, lying in the Pawling-Dover valley, was settled about 1740 by
English Quakers. The first hamlet was known as Gorsetown; the present
name derives from the Paulding or Pawling family, Colonial landholders.
The business section is confined to Main and Railroad Sts. with residential
streets radiating from this center. The railroad bisects the village. Farming is
locally on the decline and the land is being bought up by New Yorkers as
summer estates.
The village has been an important dairying center since 1850 and once
shipped 200,000 quarts of milk a day to New York City. Upstate and western
competition has closed several of the shipping stations.
State 55 follows West Main St. and Main St. (R) through the village.
At 14.5 m. is the Pawling nine-hole GOLF COURSE (R), once the
farm of William Prendergrast, leader of the Anti-Rent Rebellion of 1766.
(See p. 12.)
At 14.6 m. is the JOHN KANE HOUSE (L), a white frame residence.
The original building was occupied by Washington from Sept. to Nov. 1778,
117
and a copper tablet commemorating the fact is affixed to a large sycamore
tree on the lawn. The tree was used as a whipping post by Continental offi
cers during the war. The present house was built in the 1830's, except for
the kitchen wing, with small-paned windows and a Dutch oven (bricked
up), which may have formed part of the original house.
At 14.8 m. is the junction with State 22. The main route turns L. on
State 22. Here also is junction with Quaker Hill Road. (See Tour No. 2 A.)
Right on State 22, just S. of the intersection, is a sign (L) indicating
PURGATORY HILL, so named because "it is halfway between Quaker
Hill and everywhere else." Continental troops camped here from 1778
to 1779.
At 1.4 m. is the entrance (L) to MANUMIT SCHOOL, a co-educational
elementary school for children from 5 to 12 years of age, the curriculum
extending through the eighth grade and preparing students for high
school. It is a non-profit-sharing corporation, founded in 1924 by the
late William Mann Fincke, and directed by William Mann Fincke,
Jr., with a staff of 22 instructors and counselors. The school, is housed
in five frame buildings, with 175 acres of wood and farm land attached.
It is an experimental institution designed as a correlating link between
city and farm life; the students are employed upon the farm in duties
suitable to their age. Adequate recreational facilities are provided.
Section c. Junction of State 55 and State 22 Amenta. State 22. 23.1 m.
This is the Harlem Valley route along the east border of Dutchess Coun
ty, paralleling the Harlem Valley Division of the New York Central R. R.
Underpasses are all old and narrow. The pavement is for the most part
macadam with sharp curves. The plain is cut by the Ten Mile River, formed
by the confluence of Webatuck and Wassaic Creeks. The scenery is attractive.
At .9 m. is the GRAVE OF ADMIRAL JOHN LORIMER WOR-
DEN (L), marked by a large gray granite tombstone with an anchor in
bas-relief. Born in 1816, Admiral Worden was commander of the ironclad
Monitor in the battle with the Merrimac in 1862, and in 1863 commanded
the Montauk in the operation against Fort Sumter. From 1870 to 1874 he
was superintendent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and from 1875 to
1877 commanded the European- squadron.
At 1.1 m. is the PAWLING SCHOOL FOR BOYS (R), a college
preparatory school accommodating 250 boys, founded in 1907 by Dr. Fred
erick L. Gamage. The brick buildings stand on a hillside commanding a
view of the Harlem Valley.
At 3.1 m. is the entrance (L) to the SHEFFIELD-PAWLING
FARMS, with model wood and stone buildings. Most of the milk supply
from this section of the Harlem Valley is handled here.
North of this point the road is hilly and winding, and there are few
houses. On both sides of the highway are wild growths of young trees and
underbrush.
At 5.9 m. is the entrance (R) to the HARLEM VALLEY STATE
118
HOSPITAL for the mentally defective. A small city in itself, it occupies
1,200 acres and is planned to accommodate over 4,000 patients and a per
sonnel of 900. Originally designed as a prison, three buildings were started in
1912. They stood vacant until 1924, when the New York State Department
of Mental Hygiene took them over. Other groups of buildings have since
been added, the latest in 1932.
At 6.8 m. on a slight elevation at the north end of the grounds, stands the
ALFRED WING HOMESTEAD (R), a white frame residence in a
grove of old trees, built about 1849. Greek Revival in style, it was con
siderably altered when the hospital buildings were erected. It is now occupied
by the steward of the hospital. The portico has square wooden columns, and
the exterior and interior molding is Greek in design.
At 7 m. is the JACKSON WING INN (L), a two-story red brick
building with a hipped gambrel roof resembling the later French mansard.
The 24 windows have flat brick arches. The south end and west wings are
clapboarded. The gable on the west wing is the only one on the building.
The numerous Wing family and their kinsmen, the Prestons, were prom
inent in the early settlement of the region. Jackson Wing is said to have
built the house in 1806, and it soon became a favorite drovers' hostelry on
the Harlem Valley road. Known as the Moosehead Tavern, it was used at
one time for local elections. There were many such taverns in the late
Colonial period, but this and the Old Drovers Inn 3.8 m. N. (See below),
are the only two remaining today. The road was already well traveled by
1775, and by 1800 an increasing number of Vermont and New Hampshire
farmers used it to drive their livestock to market in New York City. A
map dated 1814, now in the office of the clerk of Dutchess County, shows
both these hostelries, and describes the highway as "The Great road from
New York to Albany and Vermont, much traveled by Drovers and others."
At 7.5 m. junction with State 55 (R). Route continues straight ahead.
SOUTH DOVER, 7.8 m. (390 alt., 35 pop.), was once noted for the
quarry of the South Dover Marble Co.
At 9.1 m. (R) across an old bridge is the abandoned quarry. The large pit,
the remains of three brick and cement buildings, and the piles of huge marble
blocks suggest the scale on which the quarry was operated. The half dozen
village buildings along the highway face the stream. The stone is chiefly
dolomite, a composition of the carbonates of lime and magnesia in varying
proportions. The Dover formation is coarse grained. Erosion has so softened
some of the stone that it crumbles as readily as lump sugar.
At 10.8 m. is the OLD DROVERS INN (L). The site was part of a
large area owned by Ebenezer Preston, who settled here in 1727. It was he
who named the Preston Mountains to the NE. The building was erected
about 1750. John Preston, an heir, opened the inn about 1810. It soon be
came a favorite with the drovers.
John Preston was an eccentric landlord and a spinner of yarns. An anec
dote relates his alleged method of fattening cattle: "My plan," he said, "is
to plow a furrow or two around the grove of trees and plant gourd seeds ; the
119
vines run up among the branches and the cows climb the trees and fatten on
the gourds."
The low-ceilinged, rambling structure is still open to guests. The Georgian
paneling of the interior and the shell cupboard are perfectly preserved, as is
much of the old handmade glass, the hardware, and the hand-hewn beams.
At the end of the center passage are three broad planks forming a partition
rising from cellar to upper floor. The old tinder box in which flint and steel
were kept dry, and the pig-scalding boiler may still be seen. The present floor
in the former kitchen covers a cooling well, with shelves for food.
Across the road (R) is the former coach house; on its gable end is a
fresco (restored) of drovers and their cattle, inscribed, 'Tree Conscience;
Void of Offence 1840." The sign salved the scruples of a landlord whose
clientele compelled him to sell liquor against his principles.
Cross creek and at 12.6 m. (L) is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on dirt road is DOVER FURNACE, across a pasture at 2.1 m.
Beyond grass-covered heaps of slag, is the abandoned iron furnace.
Behind the furnace a winding stream has cut a ravine through the
hill; an old dam forms picturesque falls. The iron mines lie farther
back in the hills.
At 2.7 m. is the entrance (R) to SHARP AROON POND, a large sum
mer camp operated by the New York Mission Society as a memorial to
Russell Sage.
The village of DOVER FURNACE is at 3.2 m.
DOVER PLAINS, 14.3 m. (400 alt., 800 pop.).
Railroad Stations: N. Y. Central R. R. (Harlem Valley Division).
Busses: Two bus lines.
Accommodations: Herbert's Hotel and Harlem Valley Inn.
Motion Picture House: One.
The highway crosses the western end of the village, passing for about 4
blocks under arching trees. The business section huddles about the railroad
station.
The names of Benson, Dutcher, and Van Dusen appear among the first
settlers of Dover Plains. They came as early as 1750. Until 1807 the village
was known as Pawlingtown. The name Dover Plains was given by Jackson
Wing. The town is bounded on the west by hills extending southward to
the Fishkill Mountains. These hills contain iron ore and marble, which were
the basis of important quarrying and mining industries 30 years ago. Deep
pits and abandoned iron furnaces remain. Since then the principal occupa
tion of the community has been dairy farming. The Harlem Valley State
Hospital has revived economic life.
A former Dover citizen, Theodore R. Timby (b. 1822), was the originator
of what is known as the "Revolving Turret System of Offensive and De
fensive Warfare to be used on Land and Water." Ericsson is popularly
known as the originator of the plans, but when he, with John Flack Winslow,
filed a caveat, he found that Timby had an earlier patent. Timby was paid
$5,000 for a release of patent rights; and Winslow, J. A. Griswold, Ericsson,
and Bushnell received for their plans $275,000 which they divided evenly.
Left from the center of Dover Plains on road marked "The Stone
120
Doorway of the Oblong Meeting House at Quaker
1
ll
< t lDENCE OF JOHN Ky
ON THIS SITE
^ A S HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON
FJ? OM SEPTEMBER TV
WHILE THE SECON1
OF TH| CONTINENTAL.
WAS ENCAMPED ON OUA
Sycamore Tree,
with embedded
plaque, used as a
whipping post
during the Revo
lution, John Kane
House, Pawling
Oblong Meeting
House, Quaker
Hill
Church," is a deep ravine 7.5 m., in which the process of erosion has
carved a chamber with a Gothic type door locally known as The Stone
Church. It may be reached by a lane and footpath, but a wire fence
must be climbed and the stream crossed on stepping stones. Formerly
the mountain brook plunged over the top of a 75-ft. precipice in a water
fall. Eventually the stream worked through a fault in the rock, and
now flows into the upper end of the chamber and out the open door
an arch 70 ft. high and 14 ft. wide. Pine trees grow in the soil lodged
in the ledge that forms the roof of the chamber.
According to local legend, Sacassas, sachem of the Pequot Indians, was
once compelled to come here for safety after a disastrous battle. He
took refuge in the cave, where he subsisted on berries for some days,
and finally made his way through the territory of his enemies, the
Mohicans, to the land of the Mohawks.
At 14.9 is junction with dirt road (L).
Left on this road is CHESTNUT RIDGE, 3 m., formerly the home
of Benson J. Lossing (d. 1891), historian and newspaperman.
His best known works are Field Book of the Revolution, and Our Country.
His former residence stands at an elevation of 1,100 ft., and commands
a view 60 miles wide, between the Shawangunk and Catskill Mts.
At 16.2 m. is junction with State 343. Route turns R. on State 22.
At 18.3 m. is the entrance (R) to the WASSAIC STATE SCHOOL,
administered by the Department of Mental Hygiene. Those admitted must
be capable of some degree of training. The school attempts social readjust
ment. There are facilities for housing and training 3,400 patients.
WASSAIC 20 m. (458 alt., 260 pop.), is a small village of frame cot
tages. Most of the residents were formerly employes of the Borden Co. The
mountains overshadow the village, which lies in the narrow valley cut by
Wassaic Creek.
The BORDEN MILK CO. PLANT, across tracks from railroad,
was the first in the United States to produce condensed milk. Later it was
developed as a pasteurizing and bottling plant, the milk being distributed
by the Borden Co. in the metropolitan area. In 1935 pasteurizing and bottling
were discontinued, but the plant continued as a milk station. A part of the
plant is now utilized by the Wassaic Fire Co. to house their apparatus.
The first of the Borden milk companies was formed in 1857 by Gail
Borden (b. Norwich, N. Y., 1801), who developed the vacuum process for
condensing fluid milk. His experiments with milk condensation began about
1851. Mr. Borden's first application for a patent, made in 1853, was re
jected. At that time he had established a factory at Wassaic. It is said he
peddled the limited output of his first factory from a basket. Patent No.
15,553 for "producing concentrated sweet milk by evaporating in vacuo,
substantially set forth, the same having no sugar or other foreign matter
mixed with it," was granted on Aug. 19, 1856.
Just N. of the village the road reaches the northern end of the Harlem
valley. On the valley floor are scattered morainic hills.
AMENIA, 23.1 m. is the junction with US 44. (See Tour No. L)
121
TOUR 2 A
Junction State 55 and 22 Quaker Hill. Quaker Hill Road. 5.4 m.
Opposite junction State 55 and State 22, in Pawling, is macadam road
leading E. and uphill. The route follows this road.
QUAKER HILL, 4.2 m., is part of the vast acreage known since
Colonial times as the Oblong Patent, one of the most historical regions in
Dutchess County. It is really a plateau 800 to 1,000 ft. high with hills rising
as high as 1,600 ft. It is ideally suited to dairy farming, but is taken up for
the most part by large estates, the country homes of wealthy New Yorkers.
The territory was early settled by Quakers from New England and Long
Island, who purchased it from Wappinger Indians. First to come was
Nathan Birdsall, in 1728, and after him the Quaker preacher, Benjamin
Ferris. In 1732 the century-old dispute over the boundary line between
Connecticut and New York was settled (see p. 9) , and the disputed ter
ritory of the Oblong was thrown open to colonizers. Fifty years later, by the
time of the Revolution, Quaker Hill was fully as settled as it is today. Many
of the estates were in the hands of the same families until 1930, when the
ingress of New Yorkers began.
The important role the Quakers played in the early history of the United
States is richly illustrated in this region. In Colonial times, 100 years before
the emancipation of the negroes, the Quakers declared their opposition to
slavery, and it was the Oblong Meeting which first prepared a "Querie" to
this effect in 1767. By 1775 slave holding was completely eradicated among
Quakers.
As pacifists, the Quakers were in a difficult position throughout the Revo
lution, and the question of their allegiance was the cause of much deliberation
among them. As a result of efforts to remain uninvolved, they were accused
more than once of espionage by the opposing sides, while on the other hand
both Whigs and Tories struggled to obtain their active cooperation. The
records of Quaker Hill contain many confessions of "error" and penance by
Quakers who were forced to some kind of compromise between their religion
and their necessities, such as the purchase of their release from military serv
ice. It is probable that the majority of Quakers were Loyalists because of
their belief in non-resistance, a belief which undoubtedly cost them much
moral and physical hardship, especially during the period of Washington's
encampment here in 1778.
CLOVER BROOK FARM, 2m. (R), home of Lowell Thomas, author,
traveler, and radio commentator, lies at the foot of a steep ascent and in
cludes nearly all of the long ridge known as Purgatory Hill, as well as a
part of Quaker Hill and the valley between the two. The house is early
American Colonial, built by the Quakers more than a century ago. Nearby
are gardens and a swimming pool. The farm has been occupied for approxi
mately 215 years.
The New York-Connecticut line once ran through it, and near the house
stands a MONUMENT erected by the New York State Historical Asso-
122
ciation, giving the date when the two states settled their dispute and shifted
the line several miles farther east.
A half-mile from the main house are the home of the superintendent and
the fur ranch, with pens for some 500 silver fox, mink, and fitch, which are
raised both for their pelts and for breeding purposes. One building, erected
as a combination theatre and gymnasium, contains a radio studio fully
equipped with special lines to New York, so that the owner may deliver his
nightly broadcast here at will.
At 32 m. is MIZZENTOP MOUNTAIN (1,000 alt.), from the sum
mit of which a magnificent view includes the Harlem Valley and surround
ing mountains.
The elaborate grounds and buildings of the AKIN HALL ASSOCIA
TION (R), founded by Albert J. Akin on Aug. 10, 1882, with the object
of promoting benevolence and mutual improvement in religion and knowl
edge, and providing and maintaining a place of education, moral training, and
worship.
The society was later re-incorporated to consist of a membership of 16 or
more and a board of 5 trustees. An endowment of $100,000 was left by Mr.
Akin when he died in January, 1903, for the upkeep of the Association, and
$50,000 for completing and furnishing the library.
At 4.1 m. is junction with dirt road.
Right, on the road at .4 m. is the AKIN FREE LIBRARY (L), erected
in 1898. The library consists of approximately 4,000 volumes selected
by a committee. The historical room contains Complete collection of
local antique household articles, old deeds, letters, Indian reiics, and
Quaker wearing apparel. The most noted item in the collection is the
key to George Washington's bed from the Reed Ferris house, where he
stayed about one week .
Just ahead at .5 m. is a splendid view (R) of the valley. The white
frame CHURCH nearby, stipulated as non-denominational in the Akin
will, maintains a summer pastorate. The inn and cottages are also
maintained by the Association.
At 5.3 m. is junction (R) with macadam road. The route bears R. on
this road.
The old OBLONG MEETING HOUSE, 5.4 m., erected in 1764, is
the most interesting landmark on Quaker hill. The exterior is unpainted
shingle, with 24-light windows, for the most part still glazed with the wavy
glass of long ago. On the south side facing the road are two batten doors
close together, one on the men's side of the church, the other on the women's.
The interior is divided by a partition separating the sexes by means of ver
tically sliding panels. The door on the east side has eight panels and is sur
mounted by a simple pediment. These three doors still have their original
iron drop handles. The balcony is supported by turned columns. The entire
inner arrangement is very similar to that of the better-preserved Nine
Partners' Meeting House near Millbrook. Across the road is a CEMETERY
containing the graves of soldiers of the Revolutionary Army.
For 150 years this little building was the center of community activity.
123
Here the famous anti-slavery "Querie" was adopted by the Oblong Meeting.
During the Revolution the building was used as a hospital by both patriots
and loyalists.
After the Quaker schism in 1828 (see pp. 148-149), the Hicksites took
over the Oblong Meeting House. For the next 75 years Orthodox and Hick-
site went each his own way, but the disunion ultimately led to the dis
appearance of both sects from Quaker Hill.
TOUR 3
Poughkeepsie Wappingers Falls Beacon Fishkill Brinckerhoff
Hopewell Junction Billings Poughkeepsie to US 9. State 90, 52, 82, 55.
Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie 40.4. m. Roads concrete with short stretches
of macadam; US 9 is three lane. Between Poughkeepsie and Beacon US
9 and State 9D are paralleled by the main line of the New York Cen
tral. In other sections the roads parallel freight lines of the New York,
New Haven & Hartford. Pizzuto Bus Lines, Poughkeepsie to Beacon.
Beacon City Bus Line, Beacon to Fishkill.
This route provides a circular tour of the southwestern corner of Dutchess,
predominantly a rolling dairy country. The first section, following the Hud
son south, offers sweeping vistas of the Highlands ; the second section traverses
historic ground associated with the military and political events of the Revo
lution in New York State; the third section passes through a typical Dutchess
countryside.
Section a. Poughkeepsie Beacon. US 9 State 9D. 14.9 m. South from
Court House on Market St. (US 9.)
At 1.7 m. about 100 ft. up a slight hill is a spring (L), called by the
Indians UPPUQUI-IPIS-ING, "reed-covered lodge by the little water
place." This is claimed by reliable authorities to have been the origin of
the name Poughkeepsie. (See p. 30.)
At 2.2 m. is the entrance (R) to LOCUST GROVE (inspection by ap
pointment), a 100-acre estate which was the home of Samuel F. B. Morse
(1791-1872) during the last 25 years of his life. Numerous locust trees, ferns,
and wild flowers provide the grounds with a setting of natural beauty. The
broad view surveys the Fishkill Mountains rising in the south and the
Catskills across the Hudson to the west. The famed "Long Reach" of
Henry Hudson's first mate, Robert Juet, who kept the chronicle of the
voyage of the Half-Moon, extends straight and true to the northward, and is
the setting of many a varied scene in the saga of sail and stream. Of the
estate as a whole, Mr. Morse, in a letter to his brother, dated July 30,
1847, wrote: "I am almost afraid to tell you of its beauties."
The estate was first called "Locust Grove" by Henry Livingston, Jr.,
whose father, Dutchess County clerk (1737-1789) and representative in
the Provincial Assembly (1759-1768), gave him the property on the occa
sion of his marriage. Mr. Morse bought the place in 1847 from John B.
Montgomery, who had purchased it from the Livingston heirs. Mr. Mont
gomery removed the old house and built a new residence, which is the
nucleus of the present building a two-story, rambling frame building
124
painted a pale green. A wide veranda extends along the south side ; and a
porte cochere extends over the entrance driveway. Doorways in the old
section are finished with carved-leaf decorations, a novelty in this section in
1830. Mr. Morse added the porte cochere and the cupola, a reproduction of
one in Italy which he admired.
Mr. Morse was a man of unusually versatile ability. He studied art abroad,
became a painter, organized the association which became the present Na
tional Academy of Design, and taught painting and sculpture in the Uni
versity of the City of New York (now New York University). With scien
tific and financial aid from others, he invented the telegraph, and in 1842
laid the first submarine telegraph line. In 1836 he ran for mayor. His interest
in photography led him into an association with John W. Draper, with whom
he set up the first daguerreotype apparatus in America. He took part in the
founding of Vassar College in 1861.
The JOHN FREAR HOUSE, 2.3 m. (L), at the entrance to the
Poughkeepsie Nursery, was built of stone about 1755. A section of the orig
inal structure was torn down and rebuilt with part wood construction as it
appears today. John Frear was colonel of the Poughkeepsie regiment of militia
in the Revolutionary War.
At 2.4 m. is the entrance (L) to the DUTCHESS GOLF AND COUN
TRY CLUB, an 18-hole private course.
The SILVER SWAN INN, 3.1 m. (R), an old residence now con
verted into an inn, was built in 1751 in Dutch Colonial style. The house has
been enlarged to meet the needs of its successive occupants, but the pleasing
lines and proportions of the original structure have been preserved. The old
brick fireplace, opposite the inn lounge, was uncovered in 1930 after having
been hidden by plaster and wall paper for perhaps a century. In the dining
room are the remains of a great Dutch oven, with the hooks that supported
the crane.
In the late 17th century, an Indian popularly known as "Speck" had his
lodge near the site of this house. Speck and two other Indians put their
marks on a deed conveying land hereabout as a free-will offering to their
Dutch benefactors. This was the Arnant Comelise Viele deed, the earliest
recorded in this section. The transfer included the present site of the Silver
Swan Inn. Thus the early associations of the inn can be definitely traced as
far back as 1680.
Two springs, near the summit of the hill across the Albany Post Road
from the inn, supply the water which flows unfailingly, winter and summer,
through the channel of the Spackenkill. In the old deeds this water source is
called by the Dutch word fonteyn. The water from these springs has long
been famous, and people drive from miles around to fill bottles and jugs from
the tap by the roadside a few rods to the south. The Indian, the Dutch
colonist, the English settler, and the modern motor tourist have, each in his
turn, been refreshed by this pure spring water. It is likely that these springs
helped to determine the course of the highway.
The brook or kill that runs by the Silver Swan was dammed to form a
125
pond that supplied water for the Indians, and it came to be known as
"Speck's Brook," or, in Dutch, Speck Zyn Kit. In the course of two cen
turies the name has been corrupted to Spackenkill. This brook lends its name
to the road that forms a junction with US 9 opposite the inn.
OAKWOOD SCHOOL, 3.2 m. (L), is a co-educational, college prepara
tory boarding school conducted by the New York Yearly Meeting of
Friends (Quakers). First established in 1796 at Mechanic, in the northern
outskirts of Millbrook, it was subsequently moved to Union Springs and
incorporated, in 1860, under the name of Friends' Academy. In 1876 it be
came Oakwood Seminary. In 1920 it was moved to the present location, and
the name was changed to Oakwood School.
The campus of 30 acres, with the main entrance on the Spackenkill Road,
is situated on a hill overlooking the Hudson River valley. The plant in
cludes dormitories, dining hall, gymnasium, library, and administration
building, as well as barns and other farm structures.
The TREASURE CHEST TAVERN, 3.6 m. (R), built about 1741
by Kasparus Westervelt, is one of many buildings in the county expressive of
Dutch influence. The original exterior walls have been clapboarded and part
of the cellar has been converted into a spacious dining room. The north wall
of the adjoining basement room is 6 or 7 ft. thick and includes the original
huge fireplace and Dutch oven. A few years ago an iron chimney head-piece
of Flemish origin, dated 1620, was unearthed several feet from the house.
This has been affixed to the north outer wall. The present owner possesses
the original land grant from King George II for this site.
The ABRAHAM FORT HOMESTEAD, 4.4 m. (L), an attractive
Colonial residence lJ/ stories high, was built by Johannes A. Fort about
1759. It is of stone, though the front wall and the gable ends above the
lower story have been faced with brick and stone painted white. The house
has lost its original lines by the addition of dormers, a porch, and a south
wing. Portions of the original woodwork and hardware have been preserved.
One of the panes in a window on the western side of the house has been
the subject of considerable interest to local historians. The pane is marked
"Jane Fort 1778 Henry Dawkin Engraver." Maj. Abraham Fort, a
member of the Poughkeepsie militia, resided here in that year, and Jane
Fort was his wife. She is buried across the road in a private cemetery.
At 4.8 m. (R), at the base of a steep incline, is junction with macadam
road. (See Tour No. 3A.)
At 6.1 m. (traffic light) is junction with concrete road, State 9D. The
route turns R. on State 9D.
WAPPINGERS FALLS, 6.8 m. (115 alt., 3,235 pop.). In the center of
the village the highway crosses a concrete bridge over Wappinger Creek.
Just below is the FALLS, which give the village its name. The water here
drops a sheer 75 ft., the highest falls in the county.
The word Wappinger comes from the Indian name Wapani, an Algon
quin (Lenni-Lenape) tribe which roamed the eastern shore of the Hudson
River until the middle of the 18th century.
126
The creek waters have long been the chief stimulus to the growth of the
village. Prior to the Revolution numerous grist mills lined the bank of the
creek. At the foot of McKinley St. is a SHIPYARD SITE where Matthew
Mesier built several sloops to carry wheat to the New York market. In
1829 James Ingham, an Englishman, established here the first cotton print
works in America. Its site is now occupied by the large plant of the
DUTCHESS BLEACHERY, which normally employs two-thirds of the
working inhabitants of the village. .
The SWEET-ORR COMPANY, Mill St., founded by James Orr in
California in 1849, has been known as the "pioneer overall business of
America/' In 1871 it was moved to Wappingers Falls and conducted by
James Orr's nephews, Clayton E. and Clinton W. Sweet. The establish
ment grew and by 1876 had a force of 250 employees producing 1,000 pairs
of overalls weekly. In 1880 the plant was enlarged, and factories were
opened in Newburgh and in other cities, and the manufacture of coats,
trousers, and shirts added.
Across East Main St. is the MESIER HOMESTEAD (L), now the
property of the village. Nicholas Brewer, one of the first settlers, built the
original house, now the rear wing, in 1741 ; the addition was put up in
1750. The building is a white frame structure with green roof and trim,
little altered since its erection. Matthew Mesier, tea merchant and ship
builder, acquired the property in 1777, and his heirs retained it until 1890,
when the house and land became village property. Here in 1777 occurred the
"Wappingers Tea Party," a rebellion of the housewives against Mesier's
exorbitant charges for tea : they rose in revolt and compelled Matthew Mesier
to reduce his price.
At 7.6 m. the route turns R.
HUGHSONVILLE, 8.2 m. (180 alt., 690 pop.), was settled as early as
1800. Small white houses line both sides of the main street. An old two-
story frame building (L) with long porches across the front, was once an inn.
At 9 m. is junction with a two-strip concrete road.
Right on this road is the entrance to the W. W. REESE HOUSE,
.2 m., one of the four original Houghson houses. The building has been
considerably altered ; and, although a portion of it may have been
built before 1800, the front door and leaded light, a parlor mantel,
and the interior door frames are all of the style of the 1830'$.
South pjF Hughsonville the highway runs through a tract formerly part of
the original Verplanck estate, acquired by purchase from the Indians and by
patent from the British Crown.
At 9.3 m. appears a broad view of the entire Fishkill Range in the distance,
and in the foreground rolling farm lands of the fertile valley.
At 10 m. (R) is junction with dirt road. (See Tour No. 3B.)
At 11.5 m. is junction with dirt road.
Left on this road is BAXTERTOWN, 2 m., a settlement of whites and
negroes, now dwindled to a thin sprinkling of humble dwellings and
127
the ruins of the M. E. Zion Church, the roof of which has caved in
from the weight of snow. In the blood of these negroes flows also that
of the Wappinger Indians. Old residents speak of a former Indian
reservation in the nearby woods, and one ancient grandmother tells of
the return of Red Men in search of relatives. As white settlers took
possession of the best land, the Indians were relegated to the poorer
acres. Negroes, originally slaves intermarried with them, and the two
races merged. Some of the first negro settlers were slaves in Fishkill
families; others had bought their freedom or had come north on the
underground railroad. The land on which they settled is rocky or marshy,
unfavorable to agriculture. Today 4 negro and 10 white families re
main. In their community cemetery on the crest of Osborn Hill are
markers dating back to 1832. Some are for Civil War volunteers;
one is in memory of James Gomer, "for 42 years a servant in the
family of Prof. Charles Davies."
At 12.1 m. is the entrance (R) to STONY KILL, built in 1842, the
residence of the Verplanck family, direct descendants of Gulian Verplanck,
the original patentee. Title to the land has never passed out of the family.
The house contains many valuable paintings and family heirlooms.
At 12.2 m,, at the SE. corner of a by-road leading eastward to Glen-
ham, is a little RED SCHOOL HOUSE (L), standing as it has stood
for more than a hundred years, with school still in session. The Little
Red School House Club maintains an active interest in its continued useful
ness to local children.
At 12.4 m., at the foot of the hill S. of the school house, is the STONY-
KILL DAIRY FARMHOUSE (R), an early stone dwelling believed
to be over 200 years old, which gives an old world touch to the landscape.
Nearby is another stone structure comparatively new, built to match the
old house.
At 72.7 m. is junction (R) with concrete road.
Right on concrete road is the U. S. VETERANS' HOSPITAL, / m.
(visitors admitted 11-12, 3-5, 7-8), situated on a bluff commanding a
broad sweep of the Hudson, the distant Shawangunk Range, and the
near Fishkill Range. This hospital for disabled tubercular veterans is
administered by the Veterans Administration Facility of the Federal
Government.
The buildings include the usual institutional structures. The grounds
cover 323 acres. The hospital has 479 beds and facilities for out
patients. It was erected in 1924, and opened in September of that year.
In the first 12 years 7,217 veterans were cared for. Patients are drawn
from 1 6 counties lying chiefly in the Hudson valley region.
The government provides recreational activities, including two movies
a week, and various organizations provide band concerts and other
entertainment.
Castle Point, the old name of Chelsea, has been adopted by the hospital
as its name and post office address.
At 12.8 m. MOUNT BEACON, 1,520 ft. high, looms on the L. On its
summit overlooking the river the Mount Beacon Casino, reached by an in
clined railway, is visible.
At 12.9 m. is MAGNOLIA FARMS (R). George Gale Foster main-
128
tains a summer camp here for the use of Beacon Girl Scouts and similar
organizations.
Across the highway, opposite Magnolia Farms and upon the summit
of a gently rising hill, may be seen the massive red brick buildings of the
MATTEAWAN STATE HOSPITAL for the criminal insane. The
extensive grounds of the hospital enclosed by a high wirefence, border the
highway for some distance. (See Beacon.) Before the State acquired the
property, it was the home and training ground of famous trotting
horses. In a grove of trees far back from the highway is the house
that was once the country home of John J. Scannell, a prominent horse
man and an associate of Richard Croker in the nineties. (See Beacon Point
of Interest No. 24).
At 13.9 m. stone gate posts and a white oak tree 15 ft. in diameter mark
the entrance (R) to MOUNT GULIAN, the Verplanck estate. The his
toric garden, one of the oldest in Dutchess County, may still be seen, but
the house was destroyed by fire in 1931, leaving only the fire-blackened
walls, a stark ruin softened by half-concealing vines. Much of the contents
of the house was fortunately saved and given in part to the New York His
torical Society. The old mansion, built in 1740, one of the first residences
in the county, was a fine example of Dutch Colonial architecture, with un
usual stone mantels.
Many historic events occurred at Mt. Gulian. It was the headquarters
of Baron von Steuben toward the close of the Revolution. Washington and
LaFayette and other prominent leaders visited it. In 1783 the Society of the
Cincinatti was formed here, with Washington as its first president. (The
formation of this exclusive military order gave rise to its rival group,
the Tammany Society.) During the Revolution the first Catholic mass
in this region was celebrated here by two visiting priests. Great quantities
of flour were stored for the use of Washington's Army in Verplanck's grist
mill at the mouth of Stony Kill nearby.
Since Colonial days the Verplanck family has been prominent in war
and peace. Gulian Verplanck, grandson of the patentee, was one of the
first to develop the Hudson valley region. His son Samuel held office under
o-:
Mount Gulian, the Verplanck House, Fishkill-on-the-Hudson
129
the British crown, and was a governor of King's College, now Columbia
University, a founder of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and dur
ing the Revolution a member of the Committee of Safety. Daniel C. Ver-
planck was a member of Congress and a judge of Dutchess County in the
early 19th century. Gulian C. Verplanck (1786-1870), member of Congress,
State senator, and a prominent member of Tammany Hall, was also a
publicist and edited Shakespeare. William E. Verplanck, author and his
torian, occupied the house in the early 20th century.
The GLAD TIDINGS HOME, U.I m. (L), is a summer home for
poor children, a subsidiary to the Glad Tidings Tabernacle in New York
City. All creeds and colors are represented. During the first two weeks after
school closes in the spring, 50 girls are accommodated here; and during the
second two weeks, 50 boys. This rotation is continued to the end of sum
mer.
At 14.2 m. on the outskirts of Beacon, a lane (R) leads to SPOOK
FIELD, the J. B. R. Verplanck home, a modern country residence. Numer
ous antiques have been incorporated in it, such as the mantels and fire
places of older dismantled houses, many of them associated with the Ver
planck family. Several ancient millstones have been utilized in the con
struction of terrace and gardens. The odd name of the estate originated
from an old legend that the ghost of a murdered Hessian soldier buried
here often walks at night.
Nearby on the river shore is the site of the traditional LANDING
PLACE OF HENRY HUDSON. His famous ship, The Half Moon,
anchored offshore here, and a number of the crew landed. The rock upon
which they were said to have landed was removed in the course of railroad
construction. The Indians received them cordially, and even offered them
land. The scene has been painted by Robert W. Weir (1803-1889), for
42 years professor of drawing at West Point.
At Bank Square in Beacon, 14.9 m., is the junction of State 52 and 9D.
Section b follows State 52; for continuation of State 9D see Tour 3C.
Section b. Beacon Fishkill Brinckerhoff. State 52. 6.8 m. L. on Main St.
(State 52).
The road between Beacon and Fishkill is one of the historic highways of
Dutchess County, dating from the early settlements. It follows the north
bank of Fishkill Creek, with occasional glimpses of the little stream flowing
in a deep cut to the right. Parallel with the road and a mile to the right,
towers the majestic Fishkill Mountain range, dominating the scene by its
natural grandeur. The road, though for the most part straight, is hilly:
the immediate countryside is devoted to agriculture.
At 2.3 m. is junction (R) with macadam road.
Right on this road is GLENHAM, 2.5 m. (200 alt., 825 pop.). The
name comes from the gorge cut through a ridge by Fishkill Creek.
A dam impounds the water to form a long mill pond. Trees and under
brush have overgrown the ruins of old mills. At a bend in the creek,
a falls furnishes electric power to this little industrial village.
130
Until the panic of 1873, Glenham was a thriving manufacturing town.
The mill period began about 1811, and in 1822 the Glenham Mill for
the manufacture of woolen goods was organized by Peter H. Schenck,
John Jacob Astor, Philip Hone, Dr. Bartow White, and others. Later
came the Darts, who supplied indigo blue goods to clothe the army dur
ing the Civil War. A. T. Stewart, the Manhattan merchant prince,
built a woolen factory at the upper end of the glen. Most of these mills
closed in 1873. On the site of the old Stewart woolen mill the Texaco
Co. now maintains a laboratory for research in motor fuels.
The HENDRICK KIP HOUSE, 3.6 m. (R), a long, low stone house
painted red, was built in 1753. About 1777 it served as the Fishkill head
quarters of Baron von SteubenJ Washington and Count Pulaski visited
here. The interior consists of a hall with one room on one side and
three on the other. The kitchen wing was added in 1860. A door in the
rear is a perfect i8th century divided door with bullseyes in the upper
half. In the north front wall, in line with the chimney, is a stone marked
" J 753 " an d immediately to the east of the front porch is another stone
marked "HK 1753."
The ZEBULON SOUTHARD HOUSE, 3.9 m. (L), built in the
middle 18th century, is a small, rectangular house; but its simple
lines and proportions create an impression of generous and comfortable
living. Zebulon Southard, the builder, was a captain in a Dutchess regi
ment in the Revolution.
The thick, hard walls are made of a lath framework filled with a mixture
of clay, straw, and cornstalks, then clapboarded. The interior comprises
two rooms on the main floor and a large half-story above. The basement
contains a built-in oven at one side of a large fireplace, large hand-cut ceil
ing beams, and great 18th century doors with wrought-iron hinges. On
the main floor, opening upon the long front porch, are two divided Dutch
doors which are battened and carry the original iron hardware. A steep,
enclosed stairway in the southwest corner leads to the half-story.
Near the road, at 4m. (L) is the site of a FORGE, where in Revo
lutionary times John Bailey, a cutler who left New York when the British
took possession, found temporary shelter and plied his trade. The forge
existed as late as 1820, but Bailey returned to New York at the close of the
Revolution. In this forge he made a sword for General Washington, and
stamped it "J. Bailey, Fishkill." This sword, carried by Washington during
the war, is now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. It is
said to be the sword that is shown in Leutze's celebrated painting Washington
Crossing the Delaware.
At 4.2 m. on the hillside (R), is the NORWAY SKI CLUB JUMP.
Sponsored by the Norway Ski Club, a private organization, many experts
compete here during the winter months.
FISHKILL VILLAGE, 4.3 m. (See Fishkill Village.)
At 5.1 m. is junction with US 9. (See Tour No. 3D.)
At 6 m. (L), 100 ft. N. on the old course of the highway, is the site
of the FIRST ACADEMY in Dutchess County, which stood on the hill,
now the Rowestone Farm. The date of its erection is not known, but prior
131
to 1765 it was conducted as a grammar school, and after that date as an
academy. From 1765 to 1790 Rev. Isaac Rysdyck, theologian and scholar,
was in charge and many distinguished men received their early education
here. (See Tour No. 2.) During the Revolution the building was used as a
hospital, and several young physicians were quartered in a house nearby.
For a time the Rev. Chauncey Graham supervised the academy. It was
taken down shortly after the Revolution and rebuilt in Poughkeepsie. (See
Poughkeepsie.)
At this point there is a splendid long-range view of the Fishkill valley.
Fishkill Creek, with trees and shrubbery lining its banks, flows through
the center of the flat, undeveloped lands, with bare, open spaces stretching
away for miles.
BRINCKERHOFF, 6.4 m., called also Brinckerhoffville, once an im
portant community with grist mill, church, academy, and general store,
has lost all but the store. The village took its name from the Brinckerhoff
family, the first to settle in this region. Derick Brinckerhoff came from
Long Island and purchased 2,000 acres of land from Madam Brett in 1718.
During the Revolution Abram Brinckerhoff kept a store: the building,
though remodeled and greatly changed, is still standing. When tea became
scarce during the war, Brinckerhoff was well supplied and took advantage
of the scarcity to profiteer. An army of 100 indignant housewives of Fish-
kill and Beekman, commanded by Vrouw Catharine Schutt and marching
in military order, drew up before the store, and demanded tea at the lawful
price of six shillings per pound. Threatened with the destruction of his stock,
Brinckerhoff quickly met the demands of the housewives.
The MIDDLE CHURCH (Presbyterian), 6.6 m. (L), built in 1747,
rebuilt in 1830, and burned in 1866, stood on a knoll west of the high
way upon the present cemetery grounds. It was used as a military hospital
during the Revolution.
DERICK BRINCKERHOFF HOUSE, 6.7 m. (L), at the junction
of State 52 and State 82, is a fine old Colonial mansion built about 1719.
In this house LaFayette was ill many weeks during the Revolution and was
attended by Dr. Cochran. A monument at the roadside was presented by
LaFayette Post, D. A. R., in honor of LaFayette. The house has been re
modeled several times, but has never passed from the possession of the
Brinckerhoff family.
Site of the OLD STAR MILL (R), is beside the creek. It was built
by Abram Brinckerhoff in 1735, razed by fire about 1777, and rebuilt
by order of General Washington by troops encamped near Fishkill. This
mill was used to grind grist for the Revolutionary army. When it was de
molished of late years and a small electric transmission station erected, cannon
balls were found beneath the floor.
At 6.8 m. is junction with State 82.
Section c follows State 82; for continuation of State 52 (See Tour No.
3E.)
Section c. Brinckerhoff Hopevuell Junction Billings. State 82. 11.2 m.
132
At 1.3 m. square stone gate posts mark the entrance (R) to a lane,
bordered by old locust trees, leading to the COL. JOHN BRINCKER-
HOFF HOUSE, erected in 1738. General Washington, a frequent guest,
made the house his headquarters while the Army was in Fishkill. He occupied
the bedroom back of the parlor. Another distinguished guest was General
LaFayette.
Architecturally the house represents an early type of stone construction,
with brick gable ends and dormer windows. On the wall facing the road
are the figures "1738" worked in black bricks against the red brick back
ground. The house has two stones, the lower of stone and the upper of brick.
The three dormers are later additions. The front is faced in stucco.
The house and surrounding land are now included in CAMP LAMOLA
(Finnish, vacation place), established in 1926 by the Finnish Co-operative
Society of New York and Brooklyn. A little removed from the cottages stands
a simple frame building the steam bath. Constructed according to Finnish
models, it has three rooms, chief of which is the steam room, with benches
tiered along the sides, and in one corner a huge Slavic stove. Large cobble
stones on top of the stove are heated by wood fire inside, and when water is
poured over them clouds of steam arise. The hour for the steam bath is
struck one bell for the men, and two for the women. The hardy devotees
of the bath follow the steaming with a dip in the cold stream nearby.
At 1.7 m. is junction (L) with dirt road (red schoolhouse on left).
Left on this road stand (R) the ruins .2 m. of the first house of JACOBUS
SWARTWOUT (1734-1827), who had a long and varied public
career. He was a captain at Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759,
saw active service during the Revolution, and was successively a mem
ber of the New York Assembly and Senate. As delegate to the State
Constitutional Convention in Poughkeepsie in 1788, he voted against
the ratification of the Federal Constitution.
At .4. m. (R) is the later home of Jacobus Swartwout, which dates
from about 1789. This excellently preserved frame building, painted
white with green trim, retains the charm and dignity of i8th century
houses. The porch, although of a later period, harmonizes with the
original plan of the building. In 1824, at the age of 90, Swartwout
journeyed from this house to Poughkeepsie to be present at a recep
tion in honor of LaFayette.
GRIFFIN'S TAVERN, 1.9 m. (L), enclosed by a wood picket fence,
was known in Revolutionary times as Griffin's Tavern or the RENDE-
VOUS. In Rombout Precinct, which included the towns of Fishkill and
East Fishkill, the Committee of Observation held three meetings in this
tavern at the beginning of the war. The original record of the first meeting
is still in the possession of a descendant of Colonel Griffin. Among the guests
entertained here were Washington, LaFayette, Putnam, Von Steuben, and a
number of French soldiers.
AARON STOCKHOLM HOUSE, 2.4 m. (L), at a dirt lane, is a
large, white clap-board house with fanlights in the gable ends. It is more
than 100 years old.
133
At 3 m. State 82 passes the site of the former village of SWARTW-
OUTVILLE, now marked only by the foundation of former homes
and stores. Swampy lands bordering the highway furnished peat for a wide
neighborhood, and peat-mining and brick-manufacturing helped develop
this section. At present dairying and farming are the major pursuits.
At 4 m. is the CORNELIUS R. VAN WYCK HOUSE (L), built
about 1785, a story and a half in height, with a gambrel roof and original
panel shutters. On the first floor are four rooms and a central hall. The
staircase is enclosed in mid- 18th century manner. Behind the house are
original frame buildings and a stone smoke-house. To the north and east
is the family burial ground, enclosed by a stone wall.
Cornelius R. Van Wyck (1753-1820), a captain in the Revolution,
was a member of one of the numerous Van Wyck families prominent in the
early history of the county.
At 4.1 m. is the junction with State 376 in the village of HOPEWELL
JUNCTION. (See Tour No. 2.)
On State 82, at 4.4 m., the highway crosses the main line of the New
York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. tracks over a new concrete bridge.
North of this point the main section of the Mid-Dutchess County valley
is followed through fertile, well-developed farm lands. Parallel to the high
way are the New Haven tracks, formerly the Newburgh, Dutchess & Con
necticut line.
At 4.9 m. is junction with macadam road.
Right on this road is SYLVAN LAKE, 4.5 m., an oval-shaped body of
water / m. long, its wooded shores marked by scattered summer camps.
An iron mine formerly operating here was abandoned when a cave-in
of a passageway beneath the lake flooded the mine.
At 7.8 m. the new EASTERN PARKWAY will cross State 82. Grad
ing operations of the lead-in roads are visible (R).
ARTHURSBURG, 7.9 m., a dairy-farming and fruit-raising hamlet, was
named for Chester A. Arthur, twenty-first president of the United States,
who when a boy was employed here during one summer in a relative's grocery
store.
BILLINGS, 11.2 m. (440 alt., 198 pop.), a station on the N. Y., N. H.
& H. R. R., is a shipping point for the surrounding farming and dairy sec
tion. The Sheffield Milk Co. maintains a pasturizing plant here (open to the
public).
In the village center is junction of State 55 and 82.
Section d proceeds L. on State 55; tor continuation of State 82, see Tour
No. sF.
Section d. Billings Freedom Plains Manchester Poughkeepsie.
State 55. 7.5 m.
This short section of the route has a fine concrete road, comparatively
free of travel since it passes through sparsely settled farm lands. The road
is winding and hilly, the high points offering extensive views which have
made this a popular short drive out of Poughkeepsie.
134
FREEDOM PLAINS, 2 m. (325 alt., 104 pop.). The name Freedom
was given to the township in 1821 by Enoch Dorland, a Quaker preacher.
In 1829 it was changed by the Board of Supervisors to LaGrange, after
the ancestral estate of the Marquis de LaFayette in France. Later the
name of the village was changed to that of the township in which it lies.
Freedom Plains is typical of the early 18th century American rural com
munity. The FREEDOM PLAINS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, built
in 1828, is constructed of wood in Colonial church style. It serves as the
principal social center of the community. In and about Freedom Plains
are many houses built early in the 19th century. Diversified farming is the
principal occupation.
At 3 m. is the top of a hill, from which a backward glance will reveal
a panaramic view of the Mid-Dutchess County valley. The Berkshires in
the far distance lie in a hazy blue cloak, and the nearer Fishkill Mountains
rise on the right.
At the top of the hill, at 4.5 m., is another view. To the west lies the city
of Poughkeepsie, the Hudson River, and the Catskills in the distance; on the
southwest are the Fishkill and Shawangunk ranges. Many people drive
for miles to view the sunset and the twinkling lights of Poughkeepsie from
this vantage point.
At 5.7 m. the highway leads under a bridge of the N. Y., N. H. & H.
R. R. (The driver should proceed carefully as the roadway is narrow.)
Immediately the road bears, (R) and crosses a bridge over Wappinger
Creek.
MANCHESTER, 5.7 m. The row of red brick houses (R) were formerly
occupied by workers in a large brickyard recently abandoned. Limestone
was quarried nearby, and there are clay pits in the vicinity. The site of the
brickyards is now occupied by the office building of the Dutchess County
Highway Department.
Intersection of State 55 and US 44, 7.5 m. Straight ahead on Main St.
to Poughkeepsie.
TOUR 3 A
Junction US p and New Hamburg Road New Hamburg. New Ham
burg Road. 3.8 m.
This route over a macadam and concrete road to New Hamburg closely
parallels US 9. It has the quiet surroundings of a country road, with pleasant
vales and undulating hills at frequent intervals.
At .4 m. is junction with two roads.- The route continues straight ahead.
The GALLAUDET HOME FOR DEAF MUTES, 1.1 m. (R)
(visitors welcome), is situated on a high knoll occupying over 100 well-
cultivated acres; the front lawn affords a view of the Hudson River. The
institution was founded in 1872 by Dr. Thomas Gallaudet, who introduced
deaf mute sign language in the United States.
At 1.3 m. is junction with dirt road.
Right on dirt road is STONECO, / m., occupied entirely by the New
135
York Trap Rock Company, owner of the largest dolomite quarry in
the world. Its product, calcium magnesium carbonate (Ca Mg (Co 3 )a),
used in road and building construction, is shipped all over the United
States. The average daily output under normal conditions is nearly
5,000 tons of stone. The ridge from which the stone is quarried is from
80 to 100 ft. high and is known to extend more than 180 ft. below the
river level. The product is 94 to 97 per cent dolomite with very thin
layers of quartz. The surface stratum is calcareous sand. The houses
in Stoneco are occupied by employes of the quarry and are owned by
the company.
Within the firm's acreage is the site of the former homestead of
DeWitt Clinton.
At 3.3 m. is junction with 2-strip concrete road. The route turns R.
on this road.
NEW HAMBURG, 3.8 m. (20 alt., 500 pop.) is located on a point of
land extending out into the Hudson River above the mouth of Wappinger
Creek. Its station on the New York Central R. R. is the shipping point for
the village of Wappingers Falls, 1.5 m. NE. Fishing, the chief industry,
is particularly active during the latter part of April when shad are running.
A yacht club is maintained privately.
Early 19th century river commerce aided in the development of the
community, but the village grew slowly until the opening of Hudson River
R. R. in 1850. Then several prominent families from the metropolitan
district built summer homes here, many of which have been vacated in the
past twenty years.
A FERRY HOUSE, now used as a storehouse, built in 1813 to serve
the ferry previously inaugurated between the New Hamburg and Marl-
borough, still remains. In the outer wall of the building are several fine
specimen of ripple limestone.
TOUR 3B
Junction of State gD and Chelsea Rd. Chelsea Rd. 1.9 m.
The route turns R. from State 9D on Chelsea Rd.
At .4 m. is intersection with another dirt road. The route turns R. and
continues toward the river.
At .9 m., on a high bluff with a magnificent view of the Hudson and the
distant Catskills, stands the DERICK BRINCKERHOFF HOUSE (R),
a white frame structure one and one-half stories high, consisting of a main
unit and a west wing. The design in lead over the door is of the style of the
1820's. In the east gable are two quarter-circle windows, a design common
in houses of this period. A north-south hall with a center arch divides the
main portion of the house with two rooms on each side. One of the two
rooms in the wing has a built-in oven at the side of the fireplace.
In Colonial times the site was the farm of Jacobus Ter Bosch. The house
was erected before 1810, and in 1820 was sold to Derick Brinckerhoff of
New York City, who made the place a summer home; the title remained
in the family until 1873.
136
Pasture Lands near Dover Furnace
De La Vergne Hill near Amenta
4- *
Old Mill and Falls Dover Furnace
The road descends nearly to the river shore, and turns aburptly L.
CHELSEA, 1.9 m. (10 alt., 150 pop.), served by the New York Central
R. R., is a quiet hamlet shielded on the E. by the hilly bulk of the Van
Wyck Ridge rising nearly 400 ft., and still retains the riverside atmosphere
of its former shipping days. Picturesque frame houses stand close together in
narrow streets which border the shore. Small river craft, sail and motor-
powered, line the waterfront.
The broad promontory upon which the village lies was by the shore-dwell
ing Indians called Low Point to distinguish it from the higher promontory at
New Hamburg, up the river. Taking its name finally from the Chelsea
Paper Mill, a short-lived enterprise, the settlement had earlier been known
as Castle Point, Carthage, and Carthage Landing.
Chelsea has always been a riverman's village. Several captains well known
in river history have made it their last anchorage, among them Capt. Moses
W. Collyer, a one-time sailing master and co-author with Wm. E. Ver-
planck of Sloops of the Hudson. Chelsea was really a seaport, avers the
captain, recalling the halcyon days when nine captains and their ships, besides
fishermen with their smaller craft, sailed from here. The Chelsea Yacht
Club, instituted by Captain Collyer about 1870, was originally an ice-
yacht club. Many of the fastest of winter craft skimmed over the frozen
river out of Low Point.
A shipyard was formerly operated here by a man named Carman, who
is locally claimed to have been the inventor of the center-board. The sloop
Matteawan, built by him, was the first boat in which his invention was in
stalled. He also originated other devices, and even constructed a steamboat
in the face of sailing masters' skepticism.
Other industries came and went, among them Knox's stream flour mill,
the Chelsea Paper Mill, and a Portland cement experiment. It is said
that the first Portland cement in America was produced here.
Route continues straight ahead through the village making sharp right
turn toward the river, and parallels the waterfront.
At 12.7 m. (L) behind a lilac hedge, stands the four-columned yellow
LE FEVRE HOUSE, overlooking the river.
TOUR 3 C
Beacon to Dutchess-Putnam County Line. State oD. 6.7 m.
From Bank Square, Beacon, S. on State oD. L. at .6 m. on Wolcott Ave. R. at 1.8
in. on Howl and Ave.
9D enters the SW. corner of Dutchess County, bounded by mountains
on the E. and the Hudson River on the W. The present Dutchess-Putnam
County Line was fixed in 1812.
As the highway leaves Beacon it runs along a high bench at the base of
Breakneck Ridge (L), known as GRAND VIEW. This elevation offers
one of the most attractive motor road vistas along the course of the river.
To the R., in the area of the 9-hole golf course of Craig House, a promon
tory vaguely known as Little Plum Point is seen about due E. of the tip
137
of Dennings Point. Plum Point, another larger promontory, is almost op
posite across the river.
JOHANNES VAN WORMER VAN VLIET HOUSE, 3.1 m. (R),
is a typical 18th century stone dwelling, now falling to ruin. It was located
on the old Phillipse patent and was at one time owned by Judith Crom
well, a widow, who sold the farm to J. V. W. Van Vliet.
CAMP NITGEDAIGET, 3.4 m. (R), a workers' camp on the river-
facing slope of Breakneck Ridge, is operated by the Beacon Camp Corpora
tion as a rest and recreation resort. Accommodations are provided in cabins,
tents, and a year-round hotel. The camp draws its patronage chiefly from
New York City and from a social group known as "The Workers' In
stitution."
At 3.7 m. the highway crosses MELZINGAH RAVINE, a place of
sylvan beauty where a small stream falls precipitiously from its sources
in springs among rocky ledges high in Breakneck Ridge. A disastrous flood
occurred here in 1897, after an unprecedented rainfall. Two dams gave
way, flooding a brickyard settlement on the river bank. Seven lives were lost,
and much property was damaged.
An old LEGEND of MELZINGAH tells of the spirit of the glen held
in sacred reverence by the Indian hunter who cast food into the water
as a sacrifice to gain the good will of the spirits and be blessed with success
in the chase.
At 4.4 m. the highway begins the descent of the long Breakneck grade
toward the river. This is one of the most scenic stretches of the whole Hud
son valley highway system. Close to the road, at 4.8 m., stands a deserted
vine-clad STONE HOUSE (R) of the 18th century, picturesque in its
dilapidation.
At this point POLOPEL'S ISLAND (BANNERMAN'S ISLAND)
(R) can be seen just off the shore. Solitary and rocky, it rises from the river
surmounted by an imitation medieval castle. The island is generally known
as Bannerman's, named for the man who owned it, erected the buildings,
and stored here a strange collection of arms and war material discarded
and sold by the Federal Government after the Civil and Spanish American
wars. Some of this material was utilized by the U. S. Army during the
World War. The group of massive buildings, constructed chiefly of "Belgian"
stone paving blocks from New York City, is intended to represent the fort-
ressed retreat of a medieval baron, with moats and locked harbor, towers
and lookouts. "Legend hangs thick about this rock," says Wilstach, "and
on its adjacent shores are supposed to dwell the goblins which ride the
storms in the Highlands. In sailing days it was the custom of the older
sailors to toss apprentices overboard here, ostensibly in the belief that the
ducking made them immune from the sorcery of storm goblins."
During the Revolution, in 1779, the Americans under the supervision
of Gen. George Clinton obstructed the river at this point in an attempt to
prevent the passage of British ships. They stretched a line of iron-pointed
pikes and cribs in the form of chevaux de frise from Polopel's Island to a
138
point near Murderer's Creek opposite. The isle was used also as a military
prison during that war. Before the advent of Bannerman's arsenal, the island
was the solitary home of a fisherman and the kingdom of his erratic wife,
who imagined herself Queen of England and her husband the Prince Con
sort.
Not far above river level the highway approaches the rugged bulk of
BREAKNECK MOUNTAIN (1,220 ft.) (L), the north portal of the
Highlands. Here the road parallels the Storm King Highway across the
river, and yields nothing to its better-known rival in scenic splen3or. The
view at 6. m. of the natural gateway through the mountains extends nearly
to West Point. This opening through which the Hudson enters the straits
as through a tunnel, was once known as the Wey Gat or Wind Gate,,
Two peaks guard the passage, Breakneck on one side and Storm King on
the other. In the early days of white settlement the former was known as
Broken Neck Hill from its jagged cliffs; the Dutch called the other peak
Beutter or Bailiff, which was translated into English as "Butter Hill." It
u as re-christened Storm King by N. P. Willis, the poet, though to the older
generation it still remains "Butter Hill." Here the Fisher's Reach begins
and Vorsen Reach ends its hazardous course through the Highlands.
At 6.7 m. the highway enters the 600 ft. TUNNEL, bored in 1932, which
pierces Breakneck Mountain and passes from one county to the other. The
excavation of about 20,000 cu. yds. of rock solid gneiss and gray granite
was completed in 27 working days, a world's record.
Through the tip of Breakneck Point, just W. of the highway and at the
riverside, run two railroad tunnels. One, which has existed since the rail
road was built, has been enlarged and lined with concrete to accommodate
the two west bound tracks ; the other was bored in 1928 for the two east
bound tracks.
The New York Aqueduct, bringing water from Ashokan, passes under
all three tunnels, highway, and railroad, at a depth of from 250 to 280
ft. below these bores. This mammoth engineering and construction feat was
completed in 1917. From the north slope of Storm King, at Cornwall across
the river, a syphon leads under the river at a depth of 1,100 ft. below sea
level at its deepest point, off Storm King Mountain. On the east side of the
river, the aqueduct climbs the north slope of Breakneck, then continues by
tunnels through the mountains southward.
TOUR 3D
Fishkill to Dutches s-Putnam County line US 9.
3.7 m. R. on US Q from State 52.
Just outside Fishkill, at .3 m., the highway crosses FISHKILL CREEK,
called by the Dutch Vis Kil.
West of the creek stretches several miles of tranquil plain, the scene
of military activity during the Revolution. Of late years the West Point
cadets have camped on this ground during their summer tour. Columbia
University has experimented in agriculture on this fertile soil, where horses
of the Continental Army were once corralled.
139
At .5 m., beside the creek, surrounded by spacious grounds is the BLOD-
GETT MANSION (L), built by Richard Rapalje about 1800. It has two
full stories and gambrel roof. The house contains several mantels and an
arch, evidently imported, although the rest of the trim is of local origin.
The exterior is marked by a double Dutch entrance doorway. A cornice with
a dentil course, panels displaying rope design, brass mantels, doorways, stair
ways, and arched recesses in the dining room, decorated in plaster and
typical of the Adam period: all give distinction to the house.
The CORNELIUS C. VAN WYCK HOUSE .9 m. (L), was built
about 1790. Lumber salvaged from the Revolutionary barracks, tradition
says, was used in its construction. The house is a story and a half high ;
the 18th century simplicity of the kitchen wing is unspoiled. A broad hall
runs through the center of the house. An open staircase and a dado in raised
bevelled panels around the hall belong to the post-Revolutionary era. At
the rear of the hall a Dutch door, pre-Revolutionary in style, is hung on the
original iron-hinged hardware of 18th century pattern.
South on US 9 is the so-called WHARTON HOUSE, 1 m. (L) (open
only on application), built by Cornelius Van Wyck about 1735 and the
scene of stirring events related in James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Spy.
Officers in command of troops stationed at the head of the Highland pass
during the Revolution used it as their headquarters. It also served as Gen
eral Putnam's headquarters, and records show that John Jay, Alexander
Hamilton, Washington, LaFayette, and Von Steuben were among its guests.
In this house the Committee of Safety conducted the mock trial of Enoch
Crosby, the original of Cooper's Harvey Birch.
The clapboard sides, the primitive east wing, and the interior finish of the
house show work done before and soon after the Revolution. The mantels,
staircase, and leaded light over the front door are typical of the late 18th
and early 19th centuries.
Close to the highway, 1,000 ft. S. of the Wharton House, is the SITE
(R) of Revolutionary army barracks, workshops, magazines, and stockade
within which Tories were imprisoned. This was the chief depot and winter
quarters of the American forces. On the open plain and in the woods at the
foot of the mountain there were at least 10 large barracks; after the war,
many a house and barn was built in the neighborhood from wood "salvaged"
from these barracks.
At 1.3 m., near the base of the mountain, a gray granite marker by the
roadside (L) commemorates a SOLDIERS' BURIAL GROUND. Many
of the unrecorded dead were State militiamen. Few cemeteries in the
State have as many graves of Revolutionary soldiers as are found in this
long unnoticed spot. The Indian heroes, Daniel Ninham, chief sachem of
the Wappinger tribe in 1740, and his son, David, a Christian tribesman,
xvho fought in the Colonr'al cause and was injured in battle with the British
at Cortlandt Ridge, are said to be buried here.
An old-time POST ROAD MILESTONE, 1.4 m. (R), of red sand-
140
stone and well-preserved, reads: "66 Miles to N. York." Directly opposite
is junction with dirt road.
Left on this road, the Van Wyck Lake road, along the N. slope of the
mountains, is the country estate of WILLOWLAKE, 6 m. (R), the home
of MARGARET SANGER (Mrs. J. Noah H. Sice), leader of the birth
control movement. The residence stands on the brink of a mountain lake
7 acres in area. It is built of native field stone, variegated and laid in
line, with a steep Gothic type of roof, heavily slated. In the terraced
gardens are valuable horticultural specimens a rare yew, and a hedge
unusual in this country. The elevation commands a wide view of the
Hudson valley and the distant Shawangunk and Catskill ranges.
The Post Road enters WICCOPEE PASS at 3.1 m. This is a region
of exceptional interest historically, topographically, and geologically. The
pass was named for the Wiccopee Indians, a branch ot the Waranoaks, who
dwelt in these Highlands. On the heights overlooking this pass, Harvey
Birch, hero of Cooper's The Spy, had his mysterious interview with Wash
ington after his escape from threatened execution at Fishkill.
The highway makes its tortuous way along Clove Creek, through groups
of rounded hillocks, 50 to 100 ft. high, which close in at the south portal
of the pass. In the background, the towering, heavily wooded mountains
dwarf these valley "knobs," which appear like over-sized haystacks in com
parison. These mound formations in the bottom of the mountain defile,
some barren, some green with scattered cedars, are mainly made up of glacial
till, a deposit of gravel and small boulders.
Countless years ago this region was the legendary home of a giant race,
hunters of great water rats, fierce fighters that dwelt in the lake covering
all the country north of the Highlands. To exterminate these racial enemies,
the giants drained the valley until only the stream and the little conical
hills, playhouses of the baby rats, remained. The bodies of the giants, their
bathing place vanished, began to harden, and where they finally fell, springs
of water bubbled forth. The high Fishkill range (R), the "long house"
of the watery tribe, gradually solidified through the ages into the hardest
of rock.
At 3.3 m. is the southern defile of WICCOPEE PASS, a strategic point
vigilantly guarded by three batteries from 1776 to 1783 to prevent the
British from seizing the military stores at Fishkill. On the hills (R)
rae the REDOUBTS, marked at the roadside by a tablet affixed to a
large field stone . The lines of the earthworks, located several hundred
feet apart in the form of a triangle, are still traceable on the hilltops. A
substantial American force was stationed in this neighborhood during the
campaign of 1777. Stockades and fortifications, erected on commanding posi
tions to guard the approach, were regularly manned by detachments from
the main camp. Two cannon were mounted in each fort to cover the im
portant military road (Post Road) laid out by Lord Louden about 1755,
during the French and Indian War. Toward the SW. may be seen a
LOOKOUT POINT, used in relaying messages from Washington's
headquarters at Newburgh. There were skirmishes in the vicinity of the
141
redoubts but no pitched battle. Thirteen interments were made in a ceme
tery on the N. side of the main hill.
Directly under the N. slope is the much remodeled FORT HILL FARM,
now an inn, once home of Stephen, son of Capt. John Haight, the Revolu
tionary officer who directed the building of the forts which he commanded.
The Captain's old homestead still stands (R) about 1 m. S. on the Post Road,
at the border of the "Neutral Ground," the "No Man's Land" of the Revo
lution.
TOUR 3 E
At 3.7 m. is the Dutchess-Putnam county line.
Brinckerhoff WicCopee Dutchess Putnam County line. State 52 and
county roads. 6.1 m.
Right from junction of State 52 and 82, on State 52.
At .2 m. the highway crosses a bridge over Fishkill Creek and bears L.
over the foothills of Honness Mountain.
At 1.1 m. is junction with gravel road. The main route turns R. on gravel
road.
Left on this road is the JOHNSVILLE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH, .2 m., erected in 1825. A little white church with a graceful
conical spire, it stands solitary, with old locust trees and a small bury
ing ground beside it. It has exceptionally large windows, four on each
side and two in front. The entire interior is of paneled woodwork in
a simple design.
Straight ahead on State 52 is the JOHN JAY HOUSE, .7 m. (R).
Built in 1740, it is a large Colonial residence situated 300 yds. from
the highway. This house was used by John Jay as a refuge when the
British advance into Westchester County forced him to flee from his home.
In a tavern nearby he presided over a local court. Jay (1745-1829) was
one of the leaders of the Revolutionary period in state and nation:
member of the First and econd Continental Congresses, President of the
Provincial Congress, Chief Justice of the tate, Minister to Spain, Sec
retary of Foreign Aairs, and first Chief Justice of the United States
Supreme Court.
During the unsettled war times, bands of outlaws, the "cowboys" from
the neighboring mountains, frequently invaded the settlements, and a
party of them robbed the Jay family of a large amount of silver. John
Jay's mother died here in 1777, and he frequently came here to rest
from his many duties.
The house is on the original Theodorus Van Wyck farm, purchased
from Madam Brett in 1736. The Wappinger (or Wiccopee) Indians
Cultivated a part of this land until shortly before the Revolution. Van
Wyck, son of the first settler of that name, first physician in the vicinity
and member of the Committee of Safety, built the house.
About one-half mile to the rear of the Jay House once stood a grist
mill. The mill and the homestead near it (still standing) were built
about 1760 by William Van Wyck.
Right on gravel road is WICCOPEE, 1.4 m. (220 alt., 100 pop.). The
Indian name Wiccopee, attached to settlement, stream, and region, was bor
rowed from the sub-tribe that occupied a site in the Hook. (See following.)
142
At one time the hamlet was called Johnsville, after the first Dutch settler,
Johannes (or John) Swartwout, who leased a farm from Madam Brett
for "three fat fowls a year." The original name has been revived in recent
years.
The first mechanic in Wiccopee was William Cushman, a blacksmith
who bought 6 acres in 1783 and built his house and shop of timbers from
the barracks of the Revolutionary army camp near Fishkill. When first
settled, Wiccopee was in the midst of dense forest, streams, and marsh
pools. Settlers were obliged to keep their stock penned at night as a protec
tion from wolves and panthers which infested the nearby mountains. Near
Wiccopee there once stood a large pine tree on which, during the Revolu
tion, "cow boys" banditti of the "neutral ground," were hanged without
benefit of judge or jury. The site of Connor's Tavern of Revolutionary
fame is said to have been on the Brinckerhoff Road (State 52) near the high
way bridge. John Jay, first Chief Justice, is reputed to have held im
portant sessions there. Meetings for arranging election matters took place in it.
and tradition says that the inn was at the time known as The Dog's Nest,
from the fact that each visitor when on public business was accompanied by
one or more dogs to act as bodyguard to their masters.
In the center of Wiccopee at 1.4 m. is junction with dirt road. The
route turns R. on the road. (Caution, sharp curves).
FISHKILL DAIRY FARMS, 2.3 m. (R), is part of the Morgenthau
estate, operated on a lease.
At this point (2.7 m.) is a forked intersection. The main route takes
the L. fork.
The right fork leads into the FISHKILL HOOK, 2 m., as this region is
called. "The Hook" retains many memories of the pioneers and Indians
who lingered here later than elsewhere in eastern New York. A few
of the apple trees planted by the Indians remained standing on the
Waldo Farm until recent years.
FORT HILL, a ridge north of the Hook, is the site of an Indian fort
of Sachem Ninham's tribe, a powerful tribe which as late as 1700
numbered more than 1,000 warriors. Their village was located in a pocket
on the hillside.
Storm Adriance Brinckerhoff House, Old Hopenvell
143
On the L. fork is The ESTATE OF HENRY MORGENTHAU, Jr.,
3 m. (R), Secretary of the U. S. Treasury (1934 ). The senior
Morgenthau, once Ambassador to Turkey, came to Dutchess County when
Henry Morgenthau, Jr., was a boy. They then occupied the Hupfel place
near Hopewell.
The home is a large two-and-one-half-story Colonial structure. The north
side was the original front, but alterations have placed wings to the front
and rear, with the main entrance on the west side. French dormer windows
and leaded-light doorway enhance the beauty of the house.
Beyond the estate is SEKUNA HILLS, 6.1 m., a 1,000-acre bungalow re
sort colony.
Just beyond Sekuna Hills is the Dutchess-Putnam County line.
TOUR 3 F
Junction State 55 and 82 Mo ores Mills Verbank Clove Valley. State
82 and Clove Valley Road. 13.3 m.
From the junction of State 55 and 82 the route follows State 82.
MOORES MILLS, 2.5 m. (460 alt., 99 pop.), was named for a mill
operated by Alfred Moore on a tributary of Sprout Creek.
At the crossroad, the center of the village, is the ROBERT WAT-
CHORN HOMESTEAD (R), situated on a picturesque knoll. A small
creek flows through the landscaped grounds. Little falls are spanned by
bridges, and summer houses and benches stand under the fine shade trees.
Robert Watchorn was commissioner of immigration during the adminis
tration of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Adjacent to the Watchorn homestead is a gravel road.
Right on gravel road is OSWEGO, / m., a small hamlet settled in
1761, by Quakers who established a meetinghouse of the Society of
Friends. The original structure gave way in 1828 to the meetinghouse
now standing. This simple frame building of usual Quaker meetinghouse
design stands high on a hillside and overlooks the cemetery in which
headstones date from 1766. At present the hamlet consists of scattered
farm homes. Many of the original settlers established themselves in
Moores Mills. Some of the dwellings, built by the first settlers, still stand
near the present meetinghouse.
North of the homestead the road ascends gradually for a distance of
4m.
VERBANK, 5.3 m. (560 alt., 147 pop.), was settled by the Dutch in
the latter part of the 17th century. The settlement is said to have derived
its name from the verdant hillsides. The surrounding hills are well wooded
with ash and hemlock. For years the village was the center of a tanning
and charcoal industry. Hemlock trees were felled and stripped of their
bark for the tanyard, while in the pits the logs were burned into charcoal.
These pits still remain with traces of charcoal.
Directly north of the pits is an area thickly strewn with chips of flinj-
stone, from which arrowheads were made by the Indians. A great number
144
of arrowheads have been found here. The site is locally known as thr
"Indian Workshop."
A mill pond in the eastern end of the village affords good trout fishing
in season.
At 5.5 m. (R) is the junction with a gravel road. (M. E. Church at
corners). The route turns R. and leads through CLOVE VALLEY, a
picturesque farming country.
At 10.1 m. is the junction with an improved macadam road. The route
turns R. on this road.
Clove Valley, extending N. and S., derives its name from the cleft or clove
in the mountains at its northern end. It is a pastoral valley, long and narrow,
hemmed in on both sides by low-lying ridges.
At 10.8 m. is the driveway entrance (L) to the FLORAL GARDENS
and 1,100-acre estate of the Hon. John E. Mack (visitors welcome on week
days during June). These gardens, occupying the western slope of Chest
nut Ridge (L), rise on a series of long terraces from the base to the summit,
and contain 1,500 varieties of flowers, shrubs, and trees, including many rare
and unusual specimens introduced from Europe and the Orient and from
the Southern States. During June 400,000 peonies of rare colorings and
varieties are in bloom. Here, too, are 32,000 rhododendrons in three varie
ties. Long rows of decorative shrubs and junipers, including the lacy Irish
juniper, first acclimated by Mr. Mack, set off the flower gardens. In un
cultured areas, mountain laurel, trailing arbutus, and a great variety of native
wild flowers bloom in profusion. Upon the summit of the ridge a reforested
tract of 300,000 white and red pine trees provide cover for wild deer, and
wheat and other forage is grown for them. Since hunting upon the estate
is prohibited, deer are numerous. Pheasants are raised on the property and
released each year.
A winding road extends to the crest of the ridge. From this vantage point,
the whole valley may be seen, 6 m. long and 1 m. wide, pocketed cozily be
tween the flanking ridges, which rise to an altitude of 1,000 ft. A panoramic
view extending to a distance of 50 miles, spreads away to the NW. with
the rugged peaks of the Catskills standing in silhouette against the sky. To
the SW. Mt. Beacon and Storm King stand like grim sentinels, guarding
the Hudson Highlands, through which the river flows oceanward.
JOHN E. MACK, lawyer and jurist, was born at Arlington, Dutchess
County, June 10, 1874. He has attained state-wide prominence as a mem
ber of the bar and has served on the New York Supreme Court bench. He
placed Franklin D. Roosevelt in nomination for President before the Demo
cratic National conventions in 1932 and 1936.
The CLOVE VALLEY METHODIST CHURCH, 300 ft. S. of the
Mack homestead, was built in 1832, but alterations with the passing years
have changed it greatly. It is included in the land of and is maintained by
the Mack estate.
At 10.9 m. is the EMIGH HOUSE (R) in a field 200 ft. back from
145
the road, and reached by a little-used driveway (open to visitors). Nicholas
Emigh, credited with having been the first white settler in Dutchess County
(see Beacon), is also credited with having been the first settler in Clove
Valley. The date of his coming is not known, but it is known that he first
built and occupied a log cabin and in the year 1740 built this commodious
house. The date 1740 appears on the south chimney. It is a story-and-a-half
stone structure, well preserved and outwardly little changed, though there
is a clapboard addition on its south end. The doors and much of the interior
trim and hardware are, however, of later date. Lath and plaster walls cover
the massive 9 x 12 inch beams, which in Emigh's day were exposed. The
fireplaces have been closed with brick and mortar. The floors, trod by early
pioneers and primitive Indians, are the original 18-inch oak planks hewn
and trimmed from primeval trees and fastened to the beams with hand-
wrought nails. Emigh built this house with enduring Dutch thoroughness.
The foundation of the windowless slave quarters, an 8 x 10 ft. building,
can still be traced 8 ft. from the main house and opposite the east door. The
Coe family, whose descendants now occupy the white frame farm house (R)
next beyond the Emigh house and own the farm upon which it stands, was
associated with Emigh in building the house and in clearing and developing
the land.
Some 600 ft. W. of the old Emigh house, is CLOVE SPRING, discharg
ing several hundred gallons of water a minute. The spring was a factor in
influencing the early settlement of Clove Valley.
At 12 m. is the junction with a macadam road.
Right on macadam road is the entrance of the CLOVE VALLEY
ROD AND GUN CLUB, .25 m. (private). It is located on the W. side
of the valley and controls an area of 5,000 acres of woodland and
meadow. In its aviaries 5,000 ducks and 7,000 pheasants are annually
reared and liberated. A pond upon this property is restocked each year
with 9,000 trout. The club membership is limited to 55.
The CHRISTIE HOMESTEAD, 72.5 m. (R), a stone house built in
1747, is typical of the period. The house has been modernized and shingled;
the hand-hewn ceiling beams and the fireplaces remain unchanged.
At 13.1 m. is junction with a dirt road.
Right on dirt road, the second house, .6 m. (R), is the home of the late
JEAN WEBSTER, author of DADDY LONG LEGS, and the
PATTY BOOKS. She was born in Binghamton, N. Y. in 1876, graduated
from Vassar College in 1901, and died in 1916, shortly after her marriage.
The house, locally known as the Skidmore homestead, is an outstanding
example of early igth century Colonial. It is painted white, and is sur
rounded by spacious lawns and formal flower gardens. A red brick wall
separates the lawns and gardens from the highway.
At 14.9 m. is the furnace (R) of the abandoned Sterling Mines, its high
stack a monument to past prosperity. In 1831 Elisha Sterling built a char
coal furnace here for the smelting of hematite ore, which he mined in the
nearby hills. The furnace prospered for several years, but was finally
146
abandoned and only its ruins remain. In 1873, the Clove Valley Iron Com
pany was organized and an anthracite furnace was built. Barges brought
black ore from Port Henry on Lake Champlain, through the Champlain
Canal, and down the Hudson River. This was transported in ox-drawn
wagons to the Clove Valley furnace, and when mixed with the local ore
produced an excellent grade of steel. In 1877 the Clove Valley Branch R.
R. was extended four miles from Sylvan Lake to the mines. In 1883 the
furnace closed, and one year later the railroad was abandoned. Thus ended
the last attempt at industrial development in Clove Valley.
From this point, the route returns to the village of Verbank, State 82, and
turns L. to junction of State 82 and 55.
TOUR 4
Poughkeepsie East Park Pleasant Plains Wurtemburg Schultzville Clinton Hol
low Salt Point Poughkeepsie. State 9 F and county roads.
Poughkeepsie to Poughkeepsie, 38.2 m.
Country roads; no R. R's. bus connections, or hotels.
This route through a sparsely settled region over town roads should be
taken only in summer. The reward is an intimate view of the mid-Hudson
countryside. The character of the area changes under the influence of the
variety of soils, which ranges from a rich productive loam to sand and gravel.
Miles of stone walls paralleling the highway in the beginning of the route
suggest the arduous labor expended in clearing the land.
The comparative isolation and the numerous lakes make the region ideal
for camping. Several camps have already been established, and there are
indications that the recreational possibilities of the region will soon be more
widely enjoyed.
The route starts at the Courthouse, Main and Market Sts.
E. on Main St. to North Hamilton St., L. on North Hamilton St. R. on
Parker Ave. across bridge over N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. tracks on Vilet
Ave. (State $F).
At 1.7 m. (R) is entrance to Bowne Memorial Hospital. Route bears L.
At 2.9 m. (L) and (R), are the entrances to the Hudson River State
Hospital (see Tour No. 1.)
CHAPEL CORNERS, 3.5 m., is a small but growing community of
modest homes occupied by the Hudson River State Hospital employees.
North of this point and for the next mile the Catskill Mts. are outlined
against the horizon (L).
VAL KIL HANDICRAFT CENTER, 4.8 m. (R), a small modern
building adjacent to a clump of pine trees, contains equipment for the pro
duction of hand-woven cloth from homespun and machine-spun yarn ; the
former is in greater demand. The center was established by Mrs. Franklin
D. Roosevelt as one of the Val Kil projects to encourage handcrafts and
provide employment for the townspeople. It is under the direction of Mrs.
Nellie Johanneson, who has utilized family patterns brought from Sweden.
147
At 4.9 m. (R) is the entrance to the first VAL KIL FURNITURE
AND CRAFT CENTER, established in 1927 by Mrs. Roosevelt for the
reproduction of antique furniture, metal work, and other handcrafts. Re
productions of many fine museum pieces, constructed in the furniture de
partment under the direction .of Mr. Otto Berge, are on display at the Metro
politan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York City.
The metal crafts department, under Mr. Arnold Berge, specializes in repro
ductions of pewter pieces of Colonial days. In May, 1936, the enterprise
was turned over to the department managers, who continue to work along
the established lines. Mr. Arnold Berge continues the metal and forge work
at the original Val Kil shops, and Mrs. Johanneson the weaving in the hand-
craft center nearby. The furniture and cabinet department was moved to the
rear of Otto Berge's home, the William Stoutenburgh house in East Park.
The Berges were trained in their father's shop in Norway.
At 6.6 m. (L) is the WILLIAM STOUTENBURGH HOUSE, the
present home of Otto Berge. The original section is a rectangular stone
building overshadowed by a frame wing of later date. At the right of the
front door the figures '4750" are marked in the stone, and at the left
"1765." It is not certain which is the date of erection. William Stouten
burgh was the son of Jacobus Stoutenburgh, an early settler.
EAST PARK, 6.7 m. (233 alt., 204 pop.) Junction with a macadam
road (R). (See Tour No. 4A.) Main route straight ahead on dirt road.
At 7.3 m. (R), stands a weather-beaten RED BARN. Knowledge of its
age, origin, and early history has faded with the past. The miniature six-
sided cupola, or belfry, and the half-round window tops similar to the
windows in the old Dutch Reformed Church at Fishkill, suggest that it may
once have been a church.
Beyond the red barn a brook (L) parallels the road. Lanes leading to
farmhouses on the other side cross the brook on picturesque rural bridges of
fieldstone and rough timber.
At 8.3 m., and continuing for several thousand feet E. of the brook, ex
tensive outcrops of limestone are visible on either side of the road. The
strata are nearly vertical and trend southeastward. These outcrops are mainly
in low ridges with a few ranging from 30 to 40 ft. in elevation.
At 9.5 m. is junction with dirt road. Main route L.
Right on this road at 1.4. m., is junction with macadam road, known
locally as Quaker Lane. Right on Quaker Lane is the CRUM ELBOW
QUAKER MEETING HOUSE (L), at 1.5 m. in a valley of pros
perous farms. This simple, white, two-story building, erected about 1780,
has been carefully restored, so that its stark rectangular lines still be
speak the honest simplicity of the early Quaker faith. The cemetery
in the rear contains many old graves, some of the mounds unidentified,
others marked by rough, moss-grown slabs with crudely lettered, now
undecipherable legends.
Elias Hicks, founder of the Hicksite branch of Friends, frequently
preached here. In this church he and the English Friends who opposed
him engaged in the controversy which eventually resulted in the division
of the Quakers into the Hicksite and Orthodox branches.
148
The controversy arose out of a difference of emphasis as between faith
and theology on the one hand, and reason and morality on the other.
During the i8th century the intuitive faith in the mystical communion
with God which characterized the Quaker religion had developed to a
high degree of self-righteous anti-intellectualism. By the early I9th cen
tury, however, the currents of rationalism had reached these farmers and
appealed to them on behalf of freedom of thought. New philosophies and
a nascent industrialism called for a greater emphasis on logic and con
duct and the practical issues of this world. Hicks was a product of these
new forces. While his views did not depart radically from those of the
orthodox church, they showed the way, and his followers gradually
took the side of the intellectuals.
Approaching Pleasant Plains, at 11.9 m. (R) before crossing the bridge,
is a lovely waterfall.
PLEASANT PLAINS, 12 m. (300 alt., 600 pop.), was once called
Le Roys Corners after John Le Roy, one of the owners of the DeWitt
house. Today the name applies not only to the few buildings at the corners,
but also to the surrounding area of level, fertile land and scattered farm
houses. General and dairy farming are the principal sources of income.
The DEWITT HOUSE (L), at the four corners, a white, frame dwell
ing, green trimmed, resting upon a high field-stone foundation was built by
John DeWitt in 1773. Four years later the construction of an addition
relocated the entrance, and in 1855 a later owner added the west wing.
DeWitt served as an officer in the American Army during the Revolution,
as sheriff of Dutchess County, and as member of the New York State As
sembly. As delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1788 in Pough-
keepsie he voted in favor of the ratification of the Constitution of the United
States.
Directly opposite the DeWitt house is an old red GRISTMILL, built
by John DeWitt in 1775 and operated by him for 27 years. The three-and-
one-half-story building is in an excellent state of preservation. The original
hand-forged iron hinges are on all doors. The rigging of the water wheel
can still be seen on the south side.
At the corners main route straight ahead.
Road right from the corners up a hill, leads to the PLEASANT PLAINS
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, .9 m. (R), a white
frame building with Doric columns along the front. The original build
ing, erected in 1837, was enlarged to its present proportions in 1859.
The church was organized on March 28, 1837, by Rev. Alonzo Welton
of Poughkeepsie.
At 15.2 m. is the white WURTEMBURG LUTHERAN CHURCH
(R), the third oldest church in the township of Rhinebeck. This frame build
ing with gable roof and steeple was built by the Palatines in 1760 and
enlarged in 1861. The original windows have been replaced by modern ones.
The sides are clapboarded ; the entrances have leaded lights. The site offers a
commanding view of the rolling hills of Whitaberger Land (a variable spell
ing of Wurtemburg), the name locally applied to this region.
At 16.2 m. is junction with gravel road. The route turns R. on this road.
149
This section of the county is sparsely settled and heavily wooded.
At 17.3 m. bear R. at 18 m. bear L.
The topography of this region is of glacial origin ; the scattered hills,
compased of boulders and gravel, are technically known as morainic hills.
At 192 m. is a SLATE QUARRY (R), extending back into the hills.
It was once extensively w r orked. In 1798 it provided the slate that roofed
the house of Mrs. Richard Montgomery of Rhinebeck. (See Tour No. IB.)
After 25 years of operation quarrying was discontinued. In 1866 the quarry
was reopened and continued in operation until 1896. Since that date it has
remained idle.
At 202 m. is junction with narrow dirt road. The main route turns R.
on road, across a small stream and up a hill.
Road straight ahead to JOHN TELLER HOUSE, bears L. at .4 m. and
.9 m. The house /./ m. (R) was built in 1764 by John Teller,
great-grandson of William Teller, founder of the Teller family in the
Hudson Valley. It is a stuccoed stone house, \ l /2 stories high, with a cen
tral hall and two rooms on the first floor. A so-called "witch-beam," with
power to keep the witches away, was built against the wall on a stair
way landing in the rear of the hall.
At 20.7 m. is junction with three roads. The route turns L.
This crossroads affords a view (R) of LONG POND, the largest of
the three lakes on this tour. It is well stocked with sunfish, pickerel, bass,
and perch. CAMP BOIBERIK, a large camp for Jewish people, is on the
western shore.
The road winds N. of Long Pond, then turns S. and follows the E. bank
of Salt Point Creek.
Left at 21.9 m. over creek.
SCHULTZVILLE, 22.7 m. (375 alt., 46 pop.), is named for the Schultz
family, early settlers.
WARREN LODGE No. 32 (formerly No. 157) F. & A. M. (R), is
housed in a small, white clapboarded two-story structure with an octagonal
tower trimmed in green. The lodge is the oldest in the county and sixth
oldest in the state. Warren Lodge No. 157 was instituted in 1807 and
named for Gen. Joseph Warren, a general in the Continental Army who
fell at the battle of Bunker Hill. In 1839 the name was changed to Warren
Lodge No. 32 as part of the reorganization after the Morgan and anti-
Masonic excitement which this lodge successfully withstood. In 1861 it was
removed from Pine Plains to Lafayetteville, where it remained until 1864,
its fifty-seventh anniversary. It was then moved to Schultzville, where it
has since remained, meeting in a temple erected in 1865.
At the junction at Schultzville, the route turns R. and proceeds straight
ahead. The road parallels a winding brook which at intervals cascades over
miniature falls. Where it now and then widens into a more pretentious
stream, shade trees on little islands provide inviting natural picnic grounds.
Approaching Clinton Hollow, the stream expands into a pond formed
by an old mill dam in the center of the village.
150
CLINTON HOLLOW, 24.6 m. (300 alt., 311 pop.), lies in a deep
valley of Salt Point Creek. The surrounding hills, none of which exceeds
500 ft. in altitude, are densely wooded. The top soil, fertile, slaty loam,
supports prosperous dairy farms. Resident families have lived here for many
years; 95 percent of the population are native born.
At 24. 6 m. is junction with dirt road.
Left on this road, up a steep hill, is the REGINALD GOODE
THEATRE, .3 m. (R), a summer theatre in which legitimate plays are
presented by Broadway actors. The theatre is an old barn painted
white, about 25 by 35 ft. and 2 stories high. The elevation offers a com
manding view of the valley.
At the junction in Clinton Hollow the main route turns L. and then
immediately R. on the Clinton Hollow Road. This hilly, winding road,
bordered by field-stone walls, passes through a narrow valley with restricted
views and the road closely parallels Salt Point Creek, which widens here
to 30 ft.
At 27.9 m. is junction with macadam road.
Left on this road is CLINTON CORNERS, 2.5 m. (288 alt., 330 pop.),
a small hamlet in which the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. maintains express
and freight service.
Little is known of the early history of the village, but it is believed to
have been settled in 1760. Clinton Corners early became a Quaker
settlement; before the meetinghouse was built services were held
regularly in the house of Jonathan Hoag, an early settler and community
leader.
THE QUAKER MEETING HOUSE, 2.6 m. (L), locally known as the
Creek Meeting House, is a two-and-a-half story field-stone building, im
pressive in its solid simplicity. It was begun in 1772, but since construction
was discontinued during the Revolutionary War, it was not completed until
1782. Outwardly it has undergone no change other than the laying of an
asbestos shingle roof and the addition of a porch in 1874. The interior,
however, has been remodeled to meet present needs, and the partition
that separated men and women (the two entrances for the two sexes
are still there) has been removed. The building is now occupied
by Upton Lake Grange No. 802, though the Quakers still hold an annual
meeting here.
Adjacent to the meeting house is the BURIAL GROUND, one of the
oldest in Dutchess County. The graves of many of the local pioneers
are marked by simple slate headstones, the inscriptions almost obliterated.
SALT POINT, 28 m. (240 alt., 250 pop.), is a pleasant country village,
with the main street bordering the Salt Point Turnpike. The simple frame
houses, set back from the road, are surrounded by aged shade trees. Accord
ing to local tradition, the name came from the early settlers' custom of
making salt licks to attract deer.
In the first third of the 19th century, the valley for which Salt Point is
today the freight transportation center was one of the most important
wheat-growing sections of New York State. Up to about 1835 more than
1/3 of the grain shipped from New York City was grown in Dutchess
County, most of it in this valley. But the competition of western wheat after
151
the opening of the Erie Canal and soil exhaustion through lack of crop
rotation and fertilization, brought wheat-raising to an end. Today the rolling,
sparsely wooded land is used principally for pasturage, and the large dairy
farms in the vicinity serve a wide area centering in Poughkeepsie.
At 28 m., in the center of Salt Point, is junction with dirt road, called
locally the Washington Hollow road.
Left on Washington Hollow road .7 m. is junction with dirt road (R).
R. on dirt road is CAMP NOOTEEMING, (L) .8 m., the Dutchess
County Boy Scout camp conducted by the Dutchess County Council. Its
176 acres embrace an artificial lake called Pocket Lake by the scouts.
With its facilities for fishing, swimming, boating, and nature study, the
camp provides all-round summer camping under adult supervision.
At 28.9 m. is junction with Salt Point Turnpike, a macadam road. The
main route turns R. and follows this macadam road past the many country
roads that serve the widespread farms.
At 37.5 m. (L) is junction with CREEK ROAD which becomes Smith
St. at this point.
R. from Smith St. on Main St.; Tour ends at Court House Square,
38.2 m.
TOUR 4 A
East Park Netherwood Spelmann Road. 6j m.
From junction with Tour No. 4 in East Park, the route turns R. on ma
cadam road. The road crosses a wide plain dotted with small dairy farms
and reaching to low rolling hills in the distance. This unfrequently traveled
road makes an ideal short rural tour in the summer.
The GARRIGUE SCHOOL, 1.2 m. (L), organized in 1933, is a mod
ern private farm school for superior children from 4 to 8 years. It is a year-
round boarding school with a capacity of 30 pupils. The two-story Colonial
house is painted white, with green blinds. Standing on a knoll about .2 m.
from the road, it commands a beautiful view of the valley.
At 1.3 m. (L), at the top of a low hill, is a beacon marking the eastern
line of the New York-Montreal airline.
At this point the contour of the land changes abruptly and becomes rugged
and hilly.
The dairy and small truck farmers have dammed the little streams to
make ponds, from which ice is cut in the winter months for household use
and for cooling milk in summer.
At 1.6 m. is junction with a secondary macadam road. The route turns L.
on this road.
CAMP WINETKA, 2.3 m. (L), a large camp for Jewish people, com
prises a number of separate yellow cabins on a shaded tract overlooking a
small pond. The main building is a mid-1 9th century white house. A large
barn serves as camp theatre.
At 2.8 m. is intersection of two roads. The route proceeds straight ahead,
on middle road, over the hill.
152
At 3.4 m., at the fork of two roads, is the ISRAEL MARSHALL
HOUSE (L), one of the most dignified and imposing buildings in the
vicinity. It is a large, two-story Colonial structure painted white. Four
Doric columns support the front porch ; a large half-round window near
the peak of the roof is an added ornament. The figures "IM 1844" are
carved in the stone steps leading to the eastern entrance. Israel Marshall
erected this building as a tavern in 1844; after serving as such for 12
years, it was remodeled to its present state. It has remained in the Marshall
family to the present time.
Opposite the Marshall House at 3.4 m. the route bears R.
The NETHERWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH, 6 m. (L), was founded
in 1791 and is "the original home of the Explorers' Club," founded in
January 1931, for children of this section. The present structure, a simple
white frame building with a square belfry and an octagonal, shuttered
window above the door, was erected in 1863 on the old site of the first
church, built in 1795. The adjoining cemetery contains many crudely cut
field-stones; the oldest decipherable stone bears the date 1789.
At 6.1 m. is junction with Salt Point Turnpike. (See Tour No. 4.)
L V- - _^ ~~Z-^i5&&***
Abraham Fort Homestead, near Poughkeepsie
153
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New York. Doubleday, Page & Co. 1907.
Documentary History of the State of New York.
O'Callaghan, E. B. editor.
Albany. Weed, Parsons & Co. 1850-51.
Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York.
O'Callaghan, E. B. editor.
Albany. Weed, Parsons & Co. 1856-1887.
Dyer, Edward O.
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155
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Albany. J. Disturnell. 1842.
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Haswell, Charles H.
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New York. Harper & Bros. 1897.
Haviland, John, and Birdsall, William M.
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Historic New York. The Half-Moon Papers. Series 2.
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Poughkeepsie, N. Y. A. V. Haight. 1913.
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Fishkill Landing, N. Y. Standard Office. 1866.
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Poughkeepsie, N. Y. S. A. Matthieu. 1909.
History of New York State, 1523-1927. 10 vols.
Sullivan, James, editor-in-chief.
New York. Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc. 1927.
History of the Bench and Bar of New York. 2 vols.
New York. New York History Company. 1897.
Hodge, Frederick Witt.
Handbook of the American Indians North of Mexico.
Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology.
Washington, D. C. Government Printing Office. 1910.
Hunt, Thomas.
Historical Sketch of the Town of Clermont, A.
Hudson, N. Y. The Hudson Press. 1928.
Huntting, Isaac.
History of Little Nine Partners of North East Precinct, and Pine Plains, New York,
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Amenia, N. Y. Charles Walsh & Co. 1897.
156
Jenkins, Stephen.
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New York and London. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1911.
Johnston, Henry P.
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New York. James T. White & Co. 1900.
Jones, Thomas.
History of New York During the Revolutionary War. 2 vols.
New York. New York Historical Society. 1879.
Jordan, David Starr, and Evermann, B. W.
American Food and Game Fishes.
New York. Doubleday, Page & Co. 1902.
Journal of the Legislative Council of the Colony of New York. 2 vols.
Albany. Weed, Parsons & Co. 1861.
Kip, Francis M.
Discourse Delivered on the I2th of September, 1866, at the Celebration of the
Anniversary of the First Reformed Church, Fishkill, N. Y., A.
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Ladd, Horatio O.
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New York and Chicago. A. S. Barnes & Co. 1877.
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New York. Virtue and Yorston. 1866.
Lossing, Benson J.
The Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution. 2 vols.
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Matthews, F. Schuyler.
Field Book of American Trees and Shrubs.
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157
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Monell, J. J.
Historical Sketches. Washington's Headquarters, Newburgh, New York, and Adjacent
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Newburgh, N. Y. E. M. Ruttenber. 1872.
Mooney, Charles N. and Belden, H. L.
Soil Survey of Dutchess County, N. Y.
U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Washington, D. C. Government Printing Office. 1909.
Morse, Howard H.
Historic Old Rhinebeck.
Rhinebeck, N. Y. Published by the author. 1908.
Muirhead, J. H. H.
Map of Dutchess County, N. Y.
New York. Dolph & Stewart. 1935.
National Cyclopedia of American Biography.
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An Original, Compiled and Corrected Account of Burgoyne's Campaign.
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New York in the Revolution as Colony and State. 2 vols.
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Albany, Brandow Printing Co. 1898 (ist vol.).
Albany, J. B. Lyon Co. 1904 (2d vol.).
Newspaper files and original documents.
Adriance Memorial Library. Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, N. Y.
Poucher, J. Wilson and Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson, compilers.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Enterprize Publishing Co., and Hanson & Pralow. 1924.
Partition Map of Dutchess County Showing Patent Divisions.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. County Clerk's Office.
Pelletreau, William S.
History of Putnam County, N. Y.
Philadelphia. W. W. Preston & Co. 1886.
Platt, Edmund.
The Eagle's History of Poughkeepsie from the Earliest Settlements, 1683 to 1905.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Platt & Platt. 1905.
Platt, Isaac.
Collection of Historical Documents and Maps. (Originals).
Poughkeepsie, Charter and Laws of the Corporation of the Village of.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Platt and Ranney. 1843.
Poughkeepsie, Charter, Ordinances and By-Laws.
1874-1881, 1898, 1901, 1907.
158
Poughkeepsie, Charter, Ordinances of the City of.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Platt & Son. 1865.
Poughkeepsie Eagle (Souvenir Edition)
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Platt & Platt. 1889.
Powell, J. W.
Indian Linguistic Families of America, North of Mexico.
Washington, D. C. Government Printing Office. 1891.
Public Papers of George Clinton, ist Governor of New York State. 10 vols.
Albany, N. Y. State of New York. 1899 to 1914.
Quaker Hill Local History Series. 16 vols.
Pawling, N. Y. Quaker Hill Conference Association. 1902-1908.
Records of Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson, editor.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Frank B. Howard. 1911.
Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Hackensack, Dutchess County, N. Y.
Tower, Maria Bockee Carpenter, compiler.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 1932.
Records of the Town of Hyde Park, Dutchess County.
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, editor.
Vol. III.
Hyde Park. Dutchess County Historical Society. 1928.
Reed, Newton.
Early History of Amenta.
Amenia, N. Y. DeLacey & Wiley. 1875.
Reichel, W. C.
Memorial of the Dedication of Monuments Erected by the Moravian Historical So
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Philadelphia. J. B. Lippincott. 1860.
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Annals of a Century Old Business.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Frank B. Howard. 1920.
Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson.
Dutch Houses in the Hudson Valley Before 1776.
New York. Payson & Clarke, Ltd. 1929.
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Dutchess County Doorways and Other Examples of Period-Work in Wood, 1730 to
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New York. William Farquhar Payson. 1931.
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Poughkeepsie, the Origin and Meaning of the Word. Vol. I.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 1924.
Reynolds, James.
Diary. (From January, 1839 to December, 1843, in manuscript).
Mr. Reynolds was a resident of Poughkeepsie.
Rothery, John and William.
John Rothery's Files, 1895.
New York. Dennison & Brown. 1895.
159
Ruttenber, Edward Manning.
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Newburgh, N. Y. Newburgh Journal. 1906.
Ruttenber, Edward Manning.
History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson's River.
Albany, N. Y. J. Munsell. 1872.
Scott, Henry W.
Courts of the State of New York, The.
New York. Wilson Publishing Co. 1909.
Sidney, J. C.
Map of Dutchess County, New York. (1850).
Place of publication unknown. John E. Gillet. 1850.
Smith, Edward M.
Documentary History of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, N. Y.
Rhinebeck. 1881.
Smith, James H. (assisted by Gale, Hume H. and Roscoe, William E.)
History of Duchess County, N. Y.
Syracuse, N. Y. D. Mason & Co. 1882.
Smith, Philip H.
General History of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876.
Pawling, N. Y. Published by the author. 1877.
Spaight, F. D.
Looking Backward.
Fishkill-on-Hudson, N. Y. Fishkill Standard Print. 1896.
Stone, W. and Cram, W. E.
American Animals.
New York. Doubleday, Page & Co. 1902.
Sutcliffe, Alice Crary.
The Homestead of a Colonial Dame: A Monograph.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. A. V. Haight Co. 1909.
Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett.
History of Rensselaer County, N. Y.
Philadelphia. Everts & Peck. 1880.
Thompson, Helen D.
Report of a Housing Survey in the City of Poughkeepsie, A.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. The Enterprize Pub. Co.
Tombstone Inscriptions from the Churchyard of the First Reformed Dutch Church,
Fishkill Village, Dutchess County, N. Y.
Van Voorhis, compiler.
New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Van Gieson, Rev. A. P.
Anniversary Discourse and History of the First Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie,
N. Y.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. A. V. Haight. 1893.
Van Gieson, Rev. A. P.
The Ratification of the Constitution by the State of New York.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Vassar Brothers Institute. 1895.
160
Van Rensselaer, Mrs. John King.
The Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta, 1609-1760.
New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1898.
Van Wyck, Anne.
Descendants of Cornelius Barentse Van Wyck and Anna Polhemus.
New York. Tobias A. Wright. 1912.
Verplanck, Virginia E.
The Verplanck Garden at Mount Gulian, Fishkill-on-Hudson.
Privately printed. No date.
Verplanck, William E.
The Birthplace of the Order of the Cincinnati.
The New England Magazine. August, 1896.
Verplanck, William E.
Old Dutch Houses on the Hudson.
The New England Magazine. March, 1895.
Verplanck, William E. and Collyer, Moses W.
The Sloops of the Hudson.
New York and London. G. P. Putnam's Sons. The Knickerbocker Press. 1908.
Wheeler, Francis Brown.
John Flack Winslow and the Monitor.
Publication unknown. 1893.
Wilson, Warren H.
Quaker Hill, A Sociological Study.
New York. 1907.
Wilstach, Paul.
Hudson River Landings.
Indianapolis. The Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1933.
Wing, Conway P.
Historical and Genealogical Register of John Wing of Sandwich, Mass, and His
Descendants, 1632.
New York. De Vinne Press. 1888.
Yearbooks of the Dutchess County Historical Society.
Rhinebeck, N. Y. Rhinebeck Gazette. 1914-1937. (none published in 1920).
Yearbooks of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Vols. i to 68.
New York. 1870-1937.
Yearbooks of the New York Historical Society.
1868-1936.
Yearbooks of the New York State Historical Association. Vols. i to 34.
1901-1936.
161
INDEX
Adams, John, 32
Adriance Memorial Library, 38
Agriculture, 17
Akin Free Library, 123
Akin Hall Association, 123
Albany Post Road, 15, 74, 140
Amenia High School, 98; Lake 98; Village,
97, 121; Iron Co. Mines, 97
American Bridge Company, of Chicago 41;
of New York 44
Annan House, 72
Annandale, 106
"Anti-Bent War", 12, 117
Apokeepsing, 30
Architecture, 21
Arlington, 34, 103
Armstrong, Gen. John, 105
Arnold Cotton Mill, 39; Homestead 43; Lum
ber Co., 43
Arthur, Chester A., 134
Arthursburg, 134
Astor Flats, 94; John Jacob, 65, 131;
Vincent, 92, 94; Vincent, Convalescent
School for Girls, 92
Avery Hall, 59
Bailey, Col. John, 31
Bacon, Georgeanna Woolsey, 71
Bald Hill, 73
Bangall, 111
Bannerman's Island, 138
Bard College, 19, 107
Bard, Dr. Samuel, 90
Bard, John, 107
Baxtertown, 127
Beacon, 62
Beardsley, Rev. John, 84
Eeecher, Henry Ward (Home of), 72
Beekman Arms Hotel, 93
Beekman, Henry, 92, 93; William, 92.
Bennett School, 19, 99.
Billings, 134
Birch, Harvey, (See Enoch Crosby), 140
Birdsall, Nathan, 122
Bisselle, Alfred, 51
Blacksmith shops, 95
Blodgett, John Woods, 83; Mansion, 140
Blodgett Hall of Evthenics, 58
Bodenstein, J. H., 103
Bogardus, Jacob, 109; Peter, 77
Bogardus-DeWindt-VanHouten House, 77
Borden Milk Co., 121
Bowery House, 93
Browne, Memorial Hospital, 53, 147, Obadiah
(house of), 84
Breakneck Mountain, 139
Brett, Madam (Catharyna), 63, 65, 70, 83,
84, 132; Robert, 75, 82, 84; Roger, 71,
75; Mill, 71; Francis, 75
Brett-Teller House (See Teller Homestead)
Briarcliff Farms, 111
Brick Meeting House, 99, 100
Brinckerhoff, Abram, 93, 132; Derick, 132,
136, (House of, &t Brinckerhoffville,
Col. John (House of), 133, Jovis, 113
113
Brinckerhoffville, 132
Broad Acres, 116
Burr, Aaron, 82, 93
"Butter Hill" (Storm King), 139
Byrnesville, cemetery, 70
Caldwell, Dr. Samuel, 54
Callendar House, 108, 109
Camp Lamola, 133
Camp Ramapo, 94
Camp Stover (See University Settlement)
Cory, Rev. Dr. Robert Fulton, 75
Casino, 78
Caaperkill, 31
Caul Rock (See Kaal Rock)
Central Hudson Steamboat Co., 43
Chapel Corners, 147
Chapel of the Holy Innocents, 107
Chase, Rev. Philander, 84
Chateau de Tivoli, 108, 109
Chelsea, 137; Paper Mill, 137
Chestnut Ridge, 121
Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, 38, 84
Christian Church, 96
Church of the Messiah, 94
Cincinnati, Society of the, 129
Circle, The, 57
City Hall, Poughkeepsie, 36
City Home and Infirmary, 50
Civil War, 33, 34
Clarke, Hon. George, 67
Clay, Henry, 82
Clear Everitt House, 48
Clinton, DeWitt (Homestead site of), 49,
93
Clinton, Gov. George (General), 49, 138
Clinton Corners, 151
Clinton Hollow, 151
Clove Valley, 145; Iron Co., 147; Methodist
Church, 145; Rod and Gun Club, 146;
Spring, 146; Furnace, 147
Clover Brook Farm, 122
Cole, Timothy, 51
College Hill Park, 46
Collyer, Captain Moses W., 137
Committees of Safety, 130
Congdon's, (Mrs.) Seminary, 133
Connors Tavern, site of, 143
Continental, Army, 12
Coons, Ethan, greenhouses, 94
Cooper, James Fenimore, 140
County Government, 11
Creek Meeting House, 151
Creek Road, 152
Crooke, Charles, 88
Crosby, Enoch, 140
Cruger's Island, 107
Crum Elbow, 88
Crum Elbow Quaker Meeting House, 148
Crumwold, 89
Crystal Spring Manor, 114, 146
Gushing House, 58
Daheim, 98
Davies, Prof. Charles, 128
De Chastellux, 15, 79
DeKoven, Reginald, 109
Delabegarre, Pierre, 108
De La Vergne Hill, 98
DeLaval Separator Co., 45
Dennings Point, 62, 72, 77; Brick Works,
77
De Peyster, Abraham, .70
De Peyster-Newlin-Byrnes House, 70
De Windt, Peter John, 77
De Witt, grist mill, 149; Simeon, 78
Dickens, Charles, 69
Dietrich, C. F., estate of, 98
162
Dinsmore, William B., estate of, 104
Divisional Produce Market, 50
Donaldson, Robert, 106
Dover Furnace, 120; Plains, 120
Du Bois Lewis (House of), 112
Duer, W. A., 91
Dutch Reformed Churches (see Reformed
Churches)
Dutchess In the Revolution, 12
Dutchess County Fair, (old), 101
Dutchess Avenue Dock, 40
Dutchess Bleachery, 127
Dutchess (County, boundaries original, 9;
boundaries present, 1; deriviation of
name of, 9; geology of, 3
Dutchess County Academy, 39, 50, 114;
Court House, 36
Dutchess Golf and Country Club, 125
Dutchess Turnpike, 97
Dutton Lumber Co., 40
E
Early Exploration and Indians, 5
East Main Street Bridge, Deacon, 74
East Park, 148.
Eastern State Parkway, 115, 134
Eastman, Business College, 33; Harvey G.,
33; Park, 38
Education, 18
Edward VIII, 89
Ellerslie, 91 '
Emigh, Nicholas, 64; (House of), 145
Emmadine Farms, 115
Eno Law Office, 96
"Equivalent Tract," 9
Ericsson, John, 120
Eustatia, 76
Fairy Island, 71
Fauconier Patent, 9
Fenner, Thomas (House of), 48
Fenton, Clarence, 51
Ferris, Benjamin, 122
First Public Library in Dutchess County,
96
Fish, 5, 102
Fishkill, Creek, 131, 139; Dairy Farms, 143;
grill, 83; Hook, 143; Landing, 64, 66;
Plains, 115: Village, 64, 79. 139
Flanagan, Hallie, 59
Flora and Fauna, 3
Forge, Bailey's, 131
Fort, Abraham Homestead, 126
Fort Hill Farm, 142, 143
Four Corners Monument, Millbrook, 100
Fowler, Alice M., 50
Fox Hollow School, 19
Fox's Point, 13; Shipyard, 45
Frear, John (House of), 125
Freedom Plains, 135
Friends (see Quakers), 148
Frigates, 13
Fulton, Robert, 75
Gallaudet Home for Deaf Mutes, 135
Garrigue School, 152
Gayhead, 115
Geography and Geology, 1
"Ghost Train," 34
Gillet, Louis A., house of, 69
Given House, James, 82
Glad Tidings Home, 130
Glebe House, 48,49
Glenham, 130
Governor Clinton House (see Clair Everitt
House)
Graham, Rev. Chauncey, 132
Grand View, 137
Grasmere, 91, 106
Gray's Riding Academy, 112
Great Nine Partners Patent, 9
Green Haven, 117
Greenvale Park, 112
Gregory House, 45
Griffin's Tavern, 133
Groveville Flats Park, 74
H
Half-Moon, 6
Hamilton, Alexander, 14, 90, 93, 140
Hamilton, Lieut. Philip, 70
Hammersley, L. G., 107
Hammond, Benjamin, 67
Harlem Valley State Hospital, 118
Hell Hollow (Boulder Glen), 73
Hicks, Elias, 148; Hicksite-Orthodox Con
troversy, (See Quakers)
Hiddenbrooke, 74
Highlands (See Hudson Highlands)
Hiker's Trail, 73
History, 30
Hoffman House, 42
Hone, Philip, 65, 131
Honess Mountain, 142
Hopeland, 105
Hopewell Junction, 115, 134
Hospitals, Hudson River State, 116; Harlem
Valley State, 118
Rowland, General (House of), 71; Library,
77
Hudson, Henry, 6, 124, 130
Hudson Highlands, 2, 80
Hudson Valley Nurseries, 116
Hughsonville, 127
Huguenots, French, 31
Hyde, Edward, 89
Indian Lake, 97; Picture Rock, 92
Indians, Pequot, 121; Mohicans, 121, 126,
128
Inns (see taverns)
Intercollegiate Regatta, 28
Irving, Washington, 82
Jackson Wing Inn, 119
James Roosevelt Memorial Library, 90
Jane Residence, 114
Jay, John, 14, 140, 143; (House of), 142
Jewett, Milo P., 54; (House), 57
Johnsville, (see Wiccoppee); Methodist Epis
copal Church, 142
"Josh Billings," 33
Juet, Robert, 6, 88, 124
Kaal Rock, 44
Kane, John Kane House, 117
Kent, Chancellor James, 32
Kimlin Cider Mill, 52
King's Highway, 10, 87, (See also Albany
Post Road)
Kip, (Rombout patentee), 8; Hendrick
and Jacobus, 8; Hendrick (House of),
131
Knevels-S'tearns House, 77
Kosciuszko, 32
Krum Elbow (See Crum Elbow)
LaFayette, Marquis de, 104, 133, 135, 140
Lafayetteville, 96; House, 96
Lakes, Sepasco, 94; Indian, 97; Aerica, 98;
Spring, 110; Hunns, 111; Whaley, 117
163
Landing Place of Henry Hudson, 130
Land Tenure, 11
Lane Brothers Hardware Co., 52
Lange Rak, (See Long Beach)
Lansing, John, 14
Lasinck, Peter, 31
Le Roys Corners (Pleasant Plains), 149
Le Fevre House, 137
Lewis, Morgan, 90
Lev/is Gordon Norrie Park, 103
Lime Ridge Farm, 117
Lincoln, Abraham, 33; Center, 46; Dude
Ranch, 116
Little Nine Partners Patent, 9
Little Plum Point, 137
Livingston, Edward, 106; Gilbert, 15, 94;
Col. Henry, 14; Henry, Jr., 124; Henry
Gilbert, 109; Janet, 106, (see Mrs.
Richard Montgomery); Robert (First
Lord of the Manor), 64; Robert R.
(Chancellor), 14, 109
Locust Grove, 124
Locusts, the, 104
Lorn as, Alfred, 66
Long Pond, 150
Long Reach, 88, 124
Long Wharf, Beacon, 68
Lookout Point, 141
Lossing, Benson J., 82, 121
Loudon, Samuel, 84, 141
Lower Landing, Beacon, 67; Poughkeepsie,
Lown Memorial Rock Garden, 47
Lydia Booth's Seminary, 33
M
Mabbettsville, 98
MacCracken, Dr. Henry Noble, 54
Mack, John E., 145
Mackin, James, 76
Magnolia Farms, 128
Main Street Landing, Poughkeepsie, 43
Mechanic, 100
Manumit School, 19, 118
Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park, 91
Marks Memorial Camp of the Tribune
Fresh Air Fund, 95
Marshall House, Israel, 153
Martin Homestead. 109
Matteawan, 63; Company, 65; State Hos
pital, 76, 129
Mechanic, 106
Melzingah Ravine, 138
Mesier, Matthew (Homestead), 127
Mid-Hudson Bridge, 43
Middle Church, 132
Millbrook, 99; School, 19, 98; Theatre, 98
Millerton, 96
Mills, Ogden Livingston ((Estate of), 104
Mi'tchell, Maria, 58
Mizzentop Mountain, 123
Modjeski, Ralph, 44
Moline Plow Company, 45
Monell, Judge John, 76
Monitor, The, 41, 118
Montgomery, estate, 106; Gen. Richard,
91, 106; ,Mrs. Richard Montgomery
(Janet Livingston), 150
Moores Mills, 144
Moran, Daniel E., 44
Moravians, 8, 110, 111
Morgenthau, Henry, Jr. (Estate of), 144
Morse, Samuel F. B., 124
Morton, Helen, 91; Levi P., 91, 94; Mary,
92; Mount Beacon, 73, 78, 128; Inclined
Railway, 72
Mount Gulian, 129
Mountain Chapel, 73
164
N
Nazarene, Camp Meeting Association,
Church, Society, 74
Negroes, 75, 128
Nelson House, 37
Netherwood Baptist Church, 153
New Hackensack, 114; Airport 113
New Hamburg, 136;
New York-Connecticut Boundary Dispute,
98
New York Provincial Convention, 80
Newcomb, John (House of), 101; Zacheus
(House of), 101
Nine Partners School, 100
Nine Partners Meeting House, 123
Ninham, Daniel and David, 140
Nitgedaiget, Camp, 138
Nitschman, Bishop David, 110
Northern Dutchess Health Center, 94
Norway Ski Jump, 131
Oakley, George P., 42, Mill, 42, House 43
Oakwood School, 19, 126
Oblong, the, 9
Oblong Meeting, 122
Oblong Meeting House, 123
Observatory, Vassar, 58
Old Beekman Road, 115
Old Drovers Inn, 119
Old Hopewell, 115
Old Hundred, 114
Old Ladies' Home, 50
Old Men's Home, 37
Old Star Mill, 132
Old Stone Church, 94
Old S'tone House, 103
Orthodox (See Quakers)
Oswego, 144
Oswego Meeting House, 144
Palatines, 92
Parthenon, 91
Patents, 6
Paulding, James Kirke, 90, 91
Pawling, 117; Mountain, 117; Patent, 9;
School for Boys, 19, 118
Pecksville, 116
Pheasant Breeders and Hunting Associa
tion, 100
Pine Plains. 96
Placentia, 91
Piatt, John I., 41; Zephaniah, 15; Zeph-
aniah (House of), 102.
Pleasant Plains, 149; Westminster Pres
byterian Church, 149
Pleasant Valley, 101
Political Organizations, 18
Polopels Island, 138,
Pooghkeepsingh, 30
Population, 18
Post Road, Old, (See Albany Post Road)
Poughkeepsie, 24
Poughquag, 117,
Prendergast, William, 117
Presbyterian Church, at Freedom Plains,
135
Preston, John, 119
Presqu'Ile, 77
Fringle Memorial Home, 51
Provincial Convention, 12, 80
Pulaski, Count, 131
Pultz Tavern, 93
Purgatory Hill. 118, 122
Putnam, General Israel, 110
Pynes, The, 109
Q
Quaker Hill, 122; Road, 118
Quaker Meeting House in Poughkeepsie.
51
Quaker Meeting House, 151
Quakers, 20; 126
Queen Anne, 71
Quinn House, 105
Railroad Bridge, Poughkeepsie, 41
Railroads, 16, 81, 115, 134
Ratification of Federal Constitution, 14
Rauch, Henry 110
Raymond, John H., 54
Reade, John, 109
Red Hook, 95; Cold Storage Company, 95;
Country Club, 95
Red Oak Mills, 113
Redder Homestead, 110
Redoubts, the, 141
Reese, W. W. (House of), 127
Reformed Churches, Beacon 20, 68,; Fish-
kill, 82; Hyde Park, 90; New Hacken-
sack, 113; Old Hopewell, 115; Pough
keepsie, 51; Rhinebeck, 92
Regatta, Intercollegiate, 28
Reginald Goode Theatre, 151
Religion, 20
Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson, 30
Revolution, 31, 93
Rhinebeck, 92; Cemetery, 92; Patent, 9
Rochdale, 102
Rock City, 94, 95
Rogers, Col.' Archibald, 89; Herman, 89
Rokeby, 105
Rombout, Catharyna, (See Madam Brett);
Patent, 6, 112
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 68; (See Crum
Elbow); Mrs. Franklin Delano, 147;
Mrs. James R. (Estate of), 88; Mrs.
Sara Delano, 90; Theodore, 89, 93, 144,
145
Rothery, John, 66
Rudd Pond, 97
Rust Plaets, 30
Rysdyck, Rev. Isaac, 83, 113, 132
St. James' Church, 90, 94, 107
St. Joseph's Novitiate, 91, 105
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Beacon, 72
St. Margaret's Church, Staatsburg, 104
St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Church
yard, Tivoli, 108
St. Peter's Church, Poughkeepsie, 40;
School, 40
Salmagundi Papers, 91.
Salt Point, 151; Turnpike, 151
Sandanona, 100
Schenck, Major Henry, 75; Peter A., 65;
Peter H., 131
Schultzville, 150
Schuyler, Patent, 106, 109
Seabury, Justice Samuel, 84
Seabury, Rev. Samuel, 83
Sekuna Hills, 144,
Sharparoon Pond, 120
Shaw, Henry Wheller, 33
Sheffield Pawling Farms, 118
Shekomeko, 8, 110
"Shillelagh", 82
Shipyards, site, 127
Silver Swan Inn, 125
Slate, 150
Sleight, Jacobus (House of), 103
Smith, Andrew, 50; Melancthon, 14; Wil
liam W., 50
Smith Brothers, Inc., 50; Restaurant, 37.
Smithfield, Presbyterian Church 111; Bury
ing Ground 111
Social Life, 21
Society of Friends (See Quakers)
Solarium, Guilford Dudley Memorial, 47
Soldiers' Burial Ground near Fishkill, 140
Soldiers' Monument, Poughkeepsie, 38
South Beacon Peak, 78
South Dover, 119
South Millbrook, 100
Southard, Zebulon, (House of), 131
Southern Dutchess Country Club, 76
Southwick House, 45
"Speck", 125
Spook Field, 130
Spottiswood, Countess Sally Britton, 76
Spy, The, 140
Spy Hill, Beacon, 68
Staats, Dr. Samuel, 103
Staatsburg, 103; Ice Tool Works, 103
Stanfordville, 111
Sterling Mines, 146
Stevens, John Cox, 106
Stewart, A. T., 66, 131
StLssing Lake, 96
Stockholm Aaron, 133
"Stone Church, The", 121
Stoneco, 135
Stonehouse, 117, 138
Stony Kill, 117, 138, 128, 129; Dairy Farm
house 128
Storm-Adriance-Brinckerhoff House, 115
Storm King, 68, 139
Stormville, 116; Speedway, 116
Stoutenburgh, Judge Jacobus, 89, 148;
William, (House of), 89, 148
Stover Camp, (See University Settlement)
Suckley Chapel, site of, 105
Surveyor's Office, Beacon, 78
Swartwout, Jacobus, 133
Swartwoutville, 134
Swartwout, Capt. Abraham, 34; Johannes,
34
Sweet-Orr Company, 127
Sylvan Lake, 134
T.
Taconic State Park, 97
Taylor, James M., 54
Telephone Building, Staatsburg, 104
Teller, Homestead, 74; Jacob, 114; John.
(House of), 150
Ter Boss, Johannes, 72
Thomas House, the 110
Thomas, Lowell, 122
Thompson, Geraldine Morgan, 103; Me
morial Library, 56; Thomas, 94
Thorn, Stephen, (House of), 113
Thorndale, 100
Thome, Edwin and Samuel, 100; Oak-
leigh, 100-111
Tidd, Polly, 116
Timby, Theodore R., 120
Tivoli-Madalin, 108
Tories, 80
Traphagen, William, 92, 93
Treasure Chest Tavern, 126
Trinity Church, Fishkill, 83
Troutbeck, 98
U
Union Bridge Company, 42; Hotel, Fish-
kill, 82
University Settlement Summer Camp, 72
Upper Landing, Beacon, 67; Poughkeepsie,
42, 44
Upton Lake, 111
Ursuline Novitiate, 74
Val Kil (See Fallkill)
Val Kil Furniture and Craft Center, and
Handicraft Center, 147
Van Benthuysen, Barent, 106
Van Buren, Martin, 82
Van Courtland, Stephen, 113; xviii-3
Van Der Burgh, Dirck, 103
165
Van Kleeck, Hugh, 48
Van Vliet, Van Wormer, House of, 138
Van Wyck, Cornelius; Cornelius C., (House
of), 140; Cornelius B., (House of), 134;
Hall, Fishkill; Col. Richard, 114; Theo-
dorus, 102, 142
Vas, Rev. Petrus, 82
Vassar, College, 33; John Guy, 52; Matthew,
54; Matthew, Jr., 52
Vassar Brothers, Home for Aged Men, 37;
Hospital, 52; Institute, 36; Laboratory,
60
Vassar College, 33, 54, 62, 112
Vassar College Buildings, See Tour of
Campus, 56-62
Vaughn, General (Sir John), 89
Verbank, 144
Verplanck, Gulian <the patentee), 6, 75,
128, 129; Gulian (the younger), 84;
William E., 137; Philipp, Jr., 114
Veterans' Hospital, 128
Vis Kil (See Kishkill)
Von Steuben, Baron, 131, 140
W
Wappinger, Creek, 2; Indians, 6
Wappingers Falls, Landing, 126; Tea Party,
Ward Joshua; Manor, 107; Robert Boyd, 107
Warfield, Mrs. Wallis, 89
Warren, Gen. Joseph, 150; Lodge, 150
Warner Jonathan A., 50
Washington George, 122, 131, 133, 140, 93;
Hollow, 101, 113
Wassaic 121; .State School, 121
Watchhorn, Robert (Homestead), 144
Webster, Jean, 146
Whaley Lake, 117
Wharton House, 140
White, Dr. Bartow (House of) 81, 131;
Stanford, 94
White House Sanatorium, 69
White Plains, battle of, 13
Whitaberger Land, 149
Whitefield, George, 111
Wiccopee, 142; Pass, 80, 141
Wildercliff, 92
Willetts. Deborah and Jacob, 100
Willowlake, 141
Wilson, Benjamin Lee, 69
Wind Gate, 139
Winetka, Camp, 152
Wing, Alfred (Homestead), 119; Jackson
(Inn), 119; John D. (Estate of), 100
Winslow, John Flack, 41, 120
Wodenethe, 70
Women's Christian Temperance Union,
Poughkeepsie, 39
Woodcliff Recreation Park, 87
Worden, Admiral John Lorimer, 118
Woronock Inn, 114
Wurtemburg Lutheran Church, 149
Yates, Robert, 14
Ye Olde Fishkill Inne, 82
Zinzendorff, Count, 110
Doorway of the Brett-Teller House, Beacon
166
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